


Fox's Humanity

by M4dG4rl



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Big Hero 6: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Overprotective Tadashi Hamada, Protective Tadashi Hamada, Tadashi Hamada Lives, anti hero tadashi hamada, tadashi hamada as kitsune
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25338448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M4dG4rl/pseuds/M4dG4rl
Summary: When Tadashi lets Kitsune — his other personality — take over his mind again, Hiro ends up dying with gash on his neck and the sword Tadashi's wielding is covered with blood — Hiro's blood."Listen, between Kitsune and Tadashi, which one do you prefer to be your brother?""Do you have a brotherly feeling for Hiro, Kitsune?"Brothers by blood, but not by heart.[Based on Fox-Face & Flames by tykimikkity]
Relationships: Hiro Hamada & Tadashi Hamada
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	1. Re-emergence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HiroAngelLight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiroAngelLight/gifts), [tykimikkitty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tykimikkitty/gifts).



> Big thanks again to tykimikkity for inspiring me and giving me permission to write this second story based on hers 'Fox-Face & Flames' s/10853393/1/Fox-face-Flames.
> 
> The main idea of this chapter (or, the whole story) is based on my imagination from chapter 21 of 'Fox-Face & Flames' by tykimikitty -- the part when Kitsune asked Tadashi to switch place with him and 'Brothers Through it All' by JackFrostnDean -- where Tadashi turned into Kitsune in order to save Hiro. Since then, I am crazy about badass protective Kitsune.
> 
> English is not my main language and I apologise for some grammar mistakes and my writing style is not nearly as beautiful as tyki's. This story was supposed to be a oneshot, but since it was too long, I split it into 5 parts.
> 
> Disclaimer : I do not own Big Hero 6. A brief appearance of some OCs (Tako, Hebi/Sasha Peters and Usagi/Thomas Rhine) and also mention of names ; Neko/Fumiko, Taka, Maya, Sierra, Knives, Kai and Chocho belong to tykimikkity.

**PROLOGUE (Recaps)**

_It had been a year passed since Hiro thought that he had lost his brother to a fire._

_Who would have thought that a year ago, Tadashi — along with many innocent people who had near death experiences — would get stolen and involved in human experiments called 'Project Doubutsu', funded by a multiconglomerat corporation known as CASCO, whose purpose was to develop an antidote for a renowned doctor, whose only son had an unknown serious disease._

_Unfortunately, Tadashi lost his memory as he first woke up in the facility owned by CASCO. And to make things worse, he with fellow human experiments were forced to experience emotional and psychological traumas that soon changed him into a cold-hearted person — someone known as Kitsune — who had no qualms about killing other members of the Doubutsu experiments in order to survive the Doubutsu trials that had been set up like a battle royale. And before the perfect formula for the antidote was perfected, Kitsune and other successful experiments had escaped and hid their faces behind masks that represented their given respectives animal names. They teamed up and had one goal in common : to find and take revenge on the head of CASCO — the brains behind Project Doubutsu that was responsible for their misery._

_Being called Kitsune, Tadashi wore a fox mask._

_Luckily, Hiro and his friends encountered Kitsune and his teammates, yet their reunion was joyless because their amnesiac Tadashi had turned into someone different from the kind and loving Tadashi they used to know and it just became worse when Kitsune tried to get rid of them all — the friends and the brother he couldn't remember. Both teams fought, but eventually, the Big Hero 6 decided to help Kitsune and his teammates to bring CASCO down._

_Many battles and incidents occured during their investigation, started with one of Kitsune's teammates — nicknamed Tako — was revealed to be a traitor. Then, Hiro accidently stabbed Kitsune, which caused the latter to regain his memory back as Tadashi but lost his memory as Kitsune after he woke up from his coma. Tadashi returned to his normal life for a few weeks without memory of Project Doubutsu at all, until the head of CASCO turned his attention to Hiro and had Tako kidnap the boy. Fortunatelly, Tadashi remembered again his Kitsune's life and merged with him so he could retrieve Hiro from the enemy's grasp._

_At the end, Big Hero 6 managed to lead CASCO to its downfall. All its human experiments went back to their real family to continue their normal life._

_However, not everything was able to stay the same like how it used to be._

_It was true that Tadashi had regained all his memory back completely, but Kitsune still remained as his negative emotion — his alter ego. While Tadashi was a friendly, caring and selfless person ; Kitsune was heartless, unfriendly, selfish and had murdered a lot people. But now, with Kitsune's negative emotions being under control, Tadashi made atone for what he had done in the past by putting Kitsune's fighting skill in a good use by being a hero known as Silver Samurai and assisted Big Hero 6 protect San Fransokyo._

_Until now, Hiro and the others still could see Kitsune in Tadashi, but they learned to live with it. One thing that Tadashi didn't expect was that someday, he would have to let Kitsune take his place again._

* * *

**A Big Hero 6 Fanfiction**

**Fox's Humanity**

**By : M4dG4rl**

**Based on 'Fox-Face & Flames' by tykimikkity**

**Dedicated to my friend, HiroAngelLight, who's also fan of that fanfic**

* * *

**Fox's Humanity**

**1\. Re-emergence**

* * *

This was just an ordinary day in San Fransokyo for Big Hero 6 and Silver Samurai. And by ordinary day, it meant Big Hero 6 and Silver Samurai were fighting some bandits who committed crimes in their city. This time, their enemies were heavily armed bank robbers who had left the crime scene few minutes ago before the heroes arrived. Luckily, Baymax scanned the whole area, found the location of where the robbers were hiding and carried the heroes there — in an old abandoned warehouse somewhere in the city.

And here they were ; six heroes plus one robot, fighting against twelve bandits wielding firearms.

More than once, Tadashi almost finished off them all with a swing of his katana. More than once, he managed to snatch their pistols and had a chance to shoot them in the heads. But every time he had a chance to do so, his friends always stopped him. They were heroes with morals, not murderers. And Baymax — amidst this chaos — gave advice calmly that violence didn't solve anything.

Being too preoccupied with their own battle, they didn't realize the danger that lurked their youngest member.

BANG! A shot had just been fired.

"Ouch!" followed by a cry of a boy who was being the shooting target.

Hiro fell to his knees, covering his injured shoulder. A stream of red was trickling out from a crack in his purple armor. He hissed in pain.

"Hiro!"

In panic; Tadashi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, Fred and Wasabi left their battle immediately and rushed forwards in an attempt to Hiro's aid. When they were just about to reach the boy, the robbers' boss — the one who shot Hiro — yanked him by the waist and hoisted the boy to his feet ; he removed Hiro's helmet and pressed the nozzle of his gun into the boy's temple.

"Stay back!" the boss shouted, eyes glaring sharply at the heroes. "Or I'll blast his head!"

By perforce, the five heroes (even the other bandits) froze in their respective spots with many expressions mixed into one on their faces; panic, afraid and worried. They raised their hands in surrender ; Hiro was really this close to his death.

But for Tadashi, there was one more emotion bubbling up inside his mind that even himself wasn't aware of ; hatred. Hatred towards the one who just hurted his brother and threated to kill Hiro right under his nose. His gaze met his brother's. It was clearly visible that Hiro was trying to look tough in vain because everyone there could see ; the boy was trembling in fear though he didn't scream for help.

Baymax waddled towards the kid in need of rescue.

The boss shot a piercing gaze at the heroes with his eyes that sent a threat. "Deactivate _him_!" he demanded without loosening his gun.

Hiro whimpered in pain. To Tadashi and his friends, that was the most painful sound they had ever heard and they felt their heart ached, like something sharp was stabbing their chests repeatedly. To all of them, Hiro was more than just a comrade. He was their little brother. And at this moment, their little brother needed their help.

"Stop crying, You Brat!" A harsh blow was delivered to the back of Hiro's head. The boy screamed even louder.

Right at this moment, the older Hamada wanted nothing but to lunge forwards and kill the boss without mercy and brought Hiro somewhere safe away from this dangerous place.

But, would he allow himself to take someone's life in order to save another life? Kitsune would agree about this, but Tadashi would try to save a life without involving murder.

"I said deactivate _him_!" Everyone seemed to be still in a state of shock that they didn't notice that Baymax was still waddling towards Hiro to tend the latter's wound.

The second shot was fired as a warning. This time, Hiro's right leg was the target. The boy's cry was getting louder. In fact, he hadn't stopped crying since the first bullet hit his shoulder.

Honey Lemon screamed, covering her mouth in horror. Fred and Wasabi exclaimed 'No!' in unison. They stumbled forward but as they saw those finger moving towards the trigger again, they paused and slowly took a step backwards.

"You monster!" Gogo roared with a face like a thunder. She was so ready to throw her sharp disk at the bandit in front of her but seeing how the bandit could pull the trigger anytime he wanted, she canceled her intention.

Tadashi's knees began to shake beneath him. "Please," he begged without himself realizing it, carefully and frighteningly. "Let him go. Just … take _me_ instead."

His plea fell on deaf ears.

Baymax was getting closer to Hiro.

"Stay away!" the third shot was fired, the bullet hit Hiro's left upper arm, followed by heartrending yowl from the boy and a sound of high-pitched scream from Wasabi.

The boss' message was clear.

"No!" Tadashi shrieked fratically. "Stop it! Please ... we ... we'll leave immediately, just —!" His shaking knees finally gave way, he nearly wailed. "—let my brother go! Please … he's just ... he's just a kid!"

"Well, deactivate your robot!"

"Baymax!" Tadashi called his robot quickly without looking at his creation, almost yelling in panic. "Stop!"

The robot in red armor turned his head to Tadashi. If he was a human, he would stare at his creator with a confused face. "Tadashi, Hiro's injuries requires immediate care. I suggest — "

 _Damnit, Baymax. Just obey me and stop!_ "I am satisfied with my care!"

The robot's eyes began flickering dimly before they formed into a thin line across its white face. His body was not moving anymore. He was shut down.

The big brother returned to gaze at his younger brother, eyes burning hole into the boss. If it was his life on the line, Tadashi would've struggled and fought furiously. But it was not his. Hiro's life was being at stake here. Right now, the only thing he could do was listen and do whatever the boss ordered them to do. One wrong movement and Hiro would —

"Drop your weapons!"

— they dropped their respective weapons and armors without resistance; Fred removed his monster suit, not taking their eyes off of the boss' fingers on the pistol.

The boss glanced at his subordinates and ordered, "Tie _them_ ," then turned his attention back to the teens, "and don't you dare fight back!"

The heroes turned their heads to Hiro ; the boy lowered his head, his shoulder shook with sobs. Tears of pain rolled down his cheek and dripped down the floor, mixing with a small crimson puddle below his feet. It hurted them to see the poor boy in such a state. That's when they realized that Hiro, however, was just a small kid. A small kid whose life depended on their cooperative action.

The next thing the teen geniuses of San Fransokyo did was comply. They didn't do anything when they were forced to sit on their knees. They didn't do anything when their hands were tied up behind their back with duct tape. They didn't do anything when another duct tape blindfolded their eyes. They didn't do anything when their weapons and armors were collected by the robbers. They didn't do anything when the boss' subordinates smacked them in their unprotected heads with what they presumed Gogo's heavy disk that caused them to fall down with a sensation of nausea and dizziness. They didn't do anything when the robbers gathered their booty and escaped.

They didn't do anything when the bandits took Hiro away. They didn't do anything when the boss said he would kill Hiro here and now if they tried to pursue them.

What they only did was listen to Hiro's pitiful sobs, calling for help but they only laid there on the floor with their throbbing headaches. Their thoughts slightly muddled.

_'H-Hiro ...'_

How would they call themselves heroes when they couldn't save a child in need of their help?

Behind the duct tape that blindfolded him, Tadashi could feel tears welled up in his eyes. Eyes that cried for his pain and his failure.

**_This is your fault_ **

He let those bandits go. He let them take Hiro away from him. From them.

**_You're too weak. Weak people irritate me._ **

Hiro's heartbreaking cry still echoed in his mind, but the useless older brother did nothing. His head was pounding caused by the concussion.

**_You were supposed to kill them._ **

Hiro was in the grasp of a criminal gang, injured and defenseless ; without his brother, without Baymax, without his friends. Who knew what they would do to his brother? They could just kill him anytime. Or worse …

**_Your morals caused this. You were not supposed to listen to them. They're just complications._ **

All Tadashi did was listen and obey the boss and let the latter took Hiro.

**_You're pathetic!_ **

That was when Tadashi realized that the _uncontrollable_ inner voice in his mind didn't belong to him.

Kistune was talking to him, messing with his head again. _Fight, fight, fight ..._

**_Yes, fight. Let me fight for you again. Let me fix your mistake._ **

Mistake?

Yes, this was his fault. He was supposed to shoot them all when he had the chance to do so. He was supposed to just slash them when he had the chance.

No, that's not right. This happened because of —

 _—_ _**Morals?** _

_**Screw it! Your morals only weakened you.** _

Tadashi shook his head and felt like someone was playing drum inside his skull. His mind was muzzy.

**_If you don't want to have something to be taken from you, you are going to take things from other people._ **

And suddenly, an image of Hiro whimpering and forcefully being taken away from him playing in his head.

_Hiro … I need to save Hiro … right now._

**_Tadashi Hamada... become me again …_ **

**Let me take your place ...**

Few minutes later after the robbers had already left, Fred managed to shout 'Ow', reactivating Baymax and asking the robot to untie them and give them aspirins to relieve their headaches.

But Tadashi had already fainted ; he was not able to hear anything _—_ anything beside Kitsune's whispers.

**Switch places with me ...**

…

_This was not the first time he was brought to this place. A place whom Tadashi believed was not a real world, but not a dreamland either. This was a place where 'the other him' talked._

_Someone stood in front of him. He looked similar to him in appearance. It was like Tadashi was staring at his own doppelganger. Only, his twin covered his face with a Japanese fox mask — a mask Tadashi used to wear when he was still called Kitsune. A katana was strapped behind this fox-faced form's back._

_"Do you need me to step in again for you, Tadashi?"_

_His twin reached a hand to Tadashi, as if asking the latter to take his hand._

_And Tadashi — without a doubt — accepting that proffered hand. Then, his body shattered like a broken glass. But the fox-faced's one didn't._

…

"Look!" Fred exclaimed in relief. "He's awake."

The man started to come to his consciousness. He fluttered his eyes open and groaned, still feeling dizzy.

Honey Lemon patted his cheek softly. "Tadashi … you're okay?"

As his eyes were completely open, he found himself laying on a dirty floor, in the same place where they lost Hiro, with worried faces of his friends hovering above him. White bandages wrapping around their heads.

Gogo pulled his upper arm hastily. "Get up, Hamada," she said as if there was not much time left. "Hiro needs us and you spent half an hour passing out all of a sudden?"

Suddenly, the arm she was pulling twisted her wrist and shoved her roughly. Gogo was jerked backwards. Her friends gasped, confused. Fred helped Gogo stand up.

The man who was called Hamada sat up as he rubbed his temple. It looked like he didn't care that he just pushed his friend.

"Tadashi?" Honey Lemon touched his shoulder carefully. "You're okay?"

But the man flung her hand away. "Don't touch me," he said instantly. He hated to be considered weak.

His voice sounded different. It was still Tadashi's voice, but at the same time, it was not. _Cold, anger, disgust._

"You okay, Man?" Wasabi asked in concern. "You had us worried."

The man stared at his friends. For the first time since he returned to his consciousness, his friends stared back at him in the eyes. And that's when they found something different in him. Something that wasn't supposed to be in Tadashi.

His face was lack of emotions. His gaze was cold and apathetic. His eyes emitted something that showed no mercy to anyone — eyes that didn't belong to Tadashi's.

The man straightened up. He looked around and found his katana laying next to where Baymax was standing. Without glancing more at his friends, he made his way to his weapon and picked it up, staring at it and pondering ;

It was a mechanical sword that Hiro designed for him. A weapon that sent shock to human's nervous system. It couldn't cut or kill people. Maybe that's why his weapon was the only weapon the robbers didn't steal ; they might thought it was a toy, but still _—_

 _—_ he strapped his _useless_ and _pathetic_ sword back behind his back.

Baymax scanned his creator without anyone asking him.

The man's eyes caught a sight of an object near his feet — a small purple helmet. He grabbed it and caressed it gently with his thumb. An inaudible mumble escaped his lips.

_'Those bastards must pay'_

"Tadashi, I am concerned," Baymax said in his robotic voice. "You are experiencing anger and —"

Baymax couldn't finish reporting his diagnostic as his creator's hand punched his chest lightly. Then, his access port opened, exposing two chip cards ; one was green and the other one was red.

His friends watched the man unplug the green one and shove it into his pocket. The access port closed, leaving Baymax only with his battle card. The robot's eyes began to glow red.

Fred laughed awkwardly. "T-tadashi? My man?" he asked in concern. "What are you doing?"

The man climbed onto Baymax's back, ignoring Fred's question. "Find Hiro!"

While Baymax was locating where Hiro was, Gogo used that chance to ask the same question.

"What are you doing, Hamada?" she asked, annoyed. Everyone knew that if Gogo called Tadashi by his last name, then it meant she was not in a good mood with him.

"I am going to save Hiro." The man finally deigned to answer his friend's question after Baymax confirmed where Hiro was held hostage.

His friends exchanged glances, knitting their eyebrows. Why did Tadashi act as if he wouldn't involve them in this rescue mission?

"We're coming with you." Honey Lemon asked worriedly. "Right?"

A loud and sneering laugh echoed throughout the room from the man as the answer. _A mockery? From Tadashi?_ There was an aura of confidence and intimidation radiating from him as he gave Honey Lemon a once over.

"You and your morals will only be complications in this mission."

What?

Gogo glowered. She grabbed the man's shoulder roughly. "What are you thinking?!" she snarled. "You unplugged Baymax's healthcare programming chip and then you plan to search for Hiro without taking us with you?! Are you crazy or —"

Her nagging stopped as suddenly — in a flash — the man pulled out his katana and aimed the tip of it right at Gogo's nose. It happened so fast. Gogo gulped, carefully taking a step backward. She searched the man's face — Tadashi's face — and the realization soon dawned upon her.

This was not Tadashi.

Not Tadashi's dark eyes stared back at her in disgust. "I hate complications. And complication like you should stay back." Then, after inserting his katana back to its place, he ordered his robot who no longer had memory of being a robot nurse. "Fly!"

A pair of mechanical wings popped out from Bayma's back. Activating his rocket feet, he flied up, transpiercing the roof of the old warehouse and soaring up the sky.

The remaining four heroes was left with many unanswered questions in their heads.

"Do you guys think what I am thinking?" Wasabi asked with his mouth agape.

"I hope it's not like what you're thinking?" Honey Lemon replied with a worried face.

Gogo crossed her arms. "Yes," she pursed her lips with an unamused face. They had an idea what was going on. "Hate to break this to you, but it looks like Tadashi has just returned to be Kitsune again."

Fred chuckled excitedly, thrilled. "Wow! Our anti hero character is back to save his brother, Guys!" He received glares from his friends. "Yeah, it's scary — but, how cool!"

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

Imagine a man — who had no second thought of killing — possessing a powerful giant robot fighter whose punch could destroy a brick wall into pieces and you wouldn't expect a good news.

Well, not a good news for the robbers who was being the target of this man and his robot. Especially the robbers who took someone precious to the said man. They had been relaxing on their old dusty couch when the front door to the abandoned multi-storey building they were occupying was destroyed by Baymax's rocket fist.

Not Tadashi — no, Kitsune got into the room among the rubbles and particle of dust. There were about ten people in the presence of him, including the boss — his main target. The other two bandits and Hiro were not with them.

In a quick and fluid movement, Kitsune pulled out his katana and charged into the room to strike. He moved very fast, fighting like a demon ; punching, kicking, slashing, gripping his opponents' necks before slamming them into the wall hard. He didn't care whether they were badly injured or not. He had showed mercy on them once and in result, Hiro had to pay the price.

His eyes met his target's. The boss was barely conscious with many bruises and cuts on his face. Kitsune grabbed a fistful of hair and leaned his face closer to the boss', giving him a dirty look.

His target looked pathetic. And Kitsune always hated pathetic people. Pathetic people only irritated him. How much he wanted to finish off this man who had enraged him — the one who hurted Hiro.

Disgusting.

Such people was supposed to be eliminated. They were criminals. They were pests. They were trash. They were complications.

He snatched a pistol from the boss' holster in the waist and pointing it square at his target's head.

"You seem to like shooting people, am I right?" Kitsune dug the nose of the gun deeper into the boss' skull. The bandit whimpered. Kitsune tugged his hair backwards so the boss' eyes could met his.

A pair of emotionless eyes met a pair of pleading eyes that asked for mercy.

Pathetic.

"Guess what? I do too. And since you already had your turn," his fingers were slowly moving towards the trigger. "Now, it's my turn."

Fingers were ready to pull the trigger and —

— suddenly he remembered what he came here for.

"Hiro," he whispered to himself in realization. That boy was still in danger. That boy was waiting for him. That boy needed him. "Where is he?" he demanded. There was a venom in his voice.

The boss' eyes half opened, looking at the cold and murderous eyes in front of him. His body went limp like he was about to faint. Kitsune shook his body roughly.

"Answer me! Where. Is. That. Kid?!"

His target coughed up blood, struggling to speak. "Up-upstair."

Kitsune turned to his robot and called, "Baymax!" he glanced at the nine fallen bandits, motioning Baymax to look at them. "Destroy."

The boss barely understood what would happen to his subordinates. What he knew next was that his body was dragged upstairs by the hair and they stopped in front of a door to a room where he kept the youngest member of the Big Hero 6.

Kitsune kicked the door open and threw the boss inside across the room. The latter's body hit the floor hard, not moving anymore ; either he died or just went unconscious. Kitsune scanned the whole room and found the one he was looking for.

There was Hiro, tied up in the corner of the room with two bandits who were tasked to watch over him.

Sensing being in danger, the remaining bandits fired at the intruder.

Kitsune dodged. Raising the pistol he snatched from the bandits' boss earlier, he pulled the trigger twice.

BANG! BANG!

Two gunshots. Two targets.

The bandits collapsed with bullet-sized wounds in each of their chests.

Ignoring his pain, Hiro watched all of it in horror. There was no way his brother would put down another life so easily. But, there had not been a drop of hesitation in his brother's movements ; each inclination of his body had been made with deliberateness.

Did his brother just really ... kill them?

Footsteps was heard approaching him. The boy in purple armor looked up and found his brother crouched down in front of him, untying him.

The older Hamada cupped the younger one's jaw and inspected his injuries. Hiro's shoulder, upper arm and leg were still bleeding ; the boy looked strengthless and helpless. In other word ; pathetic.

Such a view usually would annoy Kitsune. But somehow, the man only looked at his brother in indifference.

Hiro studied his brother's face. And then it hit the younger Hamada.

He had known that his brother had made peace with his dark past — with Kitsune. He had seen how his brother was when the latter still lost his memory and called himself Kitsune — his brother used to emit a dark aura around him with his emotionless expression and apathy in his eyes. And now, right at this moment, Hiro found his brother wearing the same _mask_ again.

"Can you walk?"

Hiro didn't answer. But then he heard his brother curse under his breath and felt a pair of arms wrapping themselves around his small body ; one under his knees and the other one supporting his back. He was lifted up and carried downstairs.

The holds around him felt so gentle and familiar, just like how Tadashi used to hold him. There's a slight hope that his brother was not —

All hopes were shattering into pieces as they reached downstairs.

There was Baymax waiting for them with rubbles and several motionless prostrate bodies sprawling around him.

_'W-what happened? Who did thi —'_

Baymax's red-glowing eyes captured his attention ; the boy soon knew the answer and he hated it.

Kitsune positioned himself on Baymax's back with Hiro still cradled protectively on his lap. "Fly!"

Baymax obeyed and flied up, across the bright blue sky of San Fransokyo. Hiro tried hard to keep fixing his gaze on his brother's face, hoping the latter's expression would change back into expressions that Tadashi always wore.

But nothing had changed.

"Ta-tada —" Hiro started, drawing attention from his brother to look at him.

Apathetic dark eyes met him. That's certainly not like his brother. That's certainly —

"— not Tadashi?"

A brief silence followed for a few seconds before an answer was uttered from his older brother. "I am Tadashi." His tone was not convincing.

The embrace around Hiro tightened. The wind blew through their hairs during their flight. Sighing tiredly, Hiro buried his face into his brother's shoulder. "Have I ever told you that you've been a better liar before?" he mumbled in a tone of disappointment.

There was a chuckle. "I'd be lying if I said I was good at lying."

The adolescent didn't respond, letting himself rest in his brother's arms.

Kitsune glanced down at the young boy's sleeping form. It would be a lie if he said he didn't detect a discontent in the kid's tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I've said before ; I was crazy about protective badass antihero!Tadashi from the few last chapter of Fox-Face & Flames by tykimikkity. The line when Tadashi was about to shoot the bandits was inspired from Kitsune!Tadashi fanart by c2ndy2c1d.
> 
> All credits for these scenes go to tykimmikity;
> 
> Kitsune's dialogue 'If you don't want to have something to be taken from you, you are going to take things from other people.' was originally written by tyki herself in the original story.
> 
> Kitsune persuading Tadashi to switch places with him to rescue Hiro was inspired from chapter 21 and 22. In the original story, Tadashi accepted Kitsune instead of letting him take his place again.


	2. Blood Relatives

**Fox's Humanity**

**2\. Blood Relatives**

* * *

He thought everything would return to normal again. Turned out, he was wrong.

The robbers were found, barely alive, and rushed to a hospital immediately. The polices attempted to investigate this case but had difficulty in identifying the assailant. The ones who could give them proper information about it would be the robbers themselves. Too bad, the robbers didn't survive due to their severe wounds and were met with their deaths on operation tables.

"That's unfortunate," was all Kitsune muttered after he heard the news.

Two months had passed since that incident.

Hiro's injuries had healed completely. Every morning, the youngest Hamada would start his day by waking up earlier than usual ; taking a shower and going downstairs to have a breakfast in silence. Next, he would proceed his morning by going to his campus by feet. Alone. And if Hiro's class ended earlier, the boy would make himself busy in his campus lab or go straight home without waiting for the other Hamada.

In other word, Hiro was avoiding his brother.

They still talked, of course. It was hard not to when you lived under the same roof. But their conversation was no more than just a small talk in dining table. And most of the time, Hiro was just quiet. No sassy comment, no sarcasm. Not even talking about his college or his newest project. He only talked to his brother or Aunt Cass when he had to. Then he would eat up his dinner and go straight to his bed earlier.

There was like an invisible wall between the Hamada brothers.

Aunt Cass was aware of Hiro's strange behavior. She knew everything about his nephews ; about his youngest nephew being superhero … about his oldest nephew and his alter ego …

… including about that said alter ego being in a full control of Tadashi's body.

Aunt Cass seemed to not take it as a serious problem. Alter ego was not the same with _multiple personality disorder_ — where you cannot remember who you are or what you do when you switch personalities. However it might be, either being Kitsune or Tadashi, he would always be her nephew.

But to Hiro, it was a problem that bothered him.

And Kitsune did not like it. At all.

…

"Give the little dude time for himself," Fred said as he and the others were accompanying Kitsune that was brooding atop the building of SFIT.

Hiro's class had just ended and as usual, the younger Hamada decided to go home alone without informing everyone since they were still busy in their labs with re-creating their weapons and armors they had lost.

Kitsune was laying on his back as he stared up at the bright blue sky above, his hands supporting his head. "I'd be lying if I said this didn't bother me."

"Hiro is just still upset, Tadashi." Honey Lemon told him, giving a reassuring smile. "He's just a little boy."

Kitsune snorted. "That's stupid," he remarked. "What was that _kid_ thinking?"

Gogo decided to utter his opinion after she found the core of the problem. "Listen, Hamada," she said bluntly. "You may think that Kitsune and Tadashi are the same person. And yes, to us, you both are. Just like me and Speed Queen. Honey Lemon and Tall Girl. Wasabi and Chop-Chop."

Kitsune narrowed his eyes, thinking. _Who the heck are Tall Girl and Chop-Chop?_ He didn't recall knowing those guys in his life —

"The thing is, Hiro doesn't get used to you because you both never get along very well. Not as Kitsune."

— and his narrowing eyes slowly widened and he glared sharply at Gogo. For seconds, the girl thought that she saw hurt in those dark eyes. However, an unexpected response came from the man ;

"We had fun in San Fransokyo World."

It was a name of San Fransokyo's number one amusement park. The second place where Kitsune and Big Hero 6 teamed up to stop one of CASCO's plan.

"Yes, but most of the time, you _hurted_ him, Idiot!"

Kitsune shot up from his position immediately, everyone reacted and were preparing themselves for a possible sudden attack.

But Gogo already stopped him as she raised her arm. "Just … remember how you were when you still didn't remember Hiro. Just remember how you used to make him upset and you acted like you didn't care for the boy. Remember when you were not being Tadashi Hamada."

Kitsune was silent. Or rather, he was silenced when a flood of memories came into his mind ;

He wouldn't admit it, that when Kitsune had first laid his eyes on Hiro that night on their second encounter, there was a familiar feeling about the boy's face — a boy who once occupied his dream even before it was revealed that they were brothers.

But he denied the fact of him being related to Hiro and refused to return to his real family since his first priority back then was to find and kill the leader of CASCO, not to search his long lost family he couldn't remember.

And there were many times several thoughts of hurting Hiro crossed his mind whenever the boy got in the way of his plans;

When the first time Hiro offered him to work together, he had a thought of slashing him and his friends to steal Baymax for himself.

When Hiro tried to stop him from kidnapping Callaghan from the prison to get information about CASCO'S leader, he almost shot Hiro. If it wasn't for Fred distracting him, Hiro could have been dead—

— and suddenly, Kitsune shuddered. That kid could have been dead by his arms! The little brother whom Tadashi — his other self — always protected.

And that was not even all of it.

When Hiro told him that they were brothers and they had their battle atop the building of his old quarters afterwards, he almost stabbed Hiro with his wakizashi. But somehow, something happened to him as his hand froze when the tip of his blade almost touched Hiro's throat. When Hiro almost fell from that building and Kitsune instinctively saved him, something in his mind told him that he couldn't kill the boy who claimed to be his younger brother.

He should have known that it was a sign that he cared for the boy. A piece of forgotten memory that emerged from the bottom of his heart that said _, 'Yes, Hiro was his brother.'_

Not to mention another bad memory of when he coldly pressed his pistol against Hiro's shoulder and threated to hurt him when that boy discovered his past as one of former experiments of Project Doubutsu. Or when he was experiencing psychosis and unwittingly fired his pistol aimlessly at Hiro … at his friends …

' _Ah … but after that, I saved that kid when he almost crashed down to the hard floor.'_

Yes, that was the moment when Hiro fell several floor in a battle when they were still investigating CASCO _._ The moment when Kitsune finally accepted his role as Hiro's long lost older brother even before he regained his memory back completely. The moment when —

He froze at the sudden horrifying image flashed in his mind.

— Hiro accidently stabbed him in the stomach after he broke the kid's fall. And he made Hiro cry.

Kitsune intended to deny every words that Gogo had told him but then he kept his mouth shut because however, Gogo had a point.

If only he could revert back to the past, he would fix every bad memories he had done to that boy. And to his friends, too.

"To put it simply," Gogo went on, "To Hiro, you — probably — are not the brother he wants."

_And Tadashi is the brother he wants?_

Kitsune averted his gaze and unconsciously bit his lower lips, glaring hole into the floor.

That statement didn't make sense at all. It sounded like you're saying that you loved the white robot nurse Baymax who took care of your injuries but you hated on him once the same Baymax wore his red battle armor and fought enemies.

Wasabi put a comforting pat on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Buddy," he said. "We'll help you fix your bond with Hiro."

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

"Just … give him a chance, Hiro." Honey Lemon advised.

After they had finished talking with Kitsune that day, the gang stopped by Lucky Cat Café and they found Hiro in his garage lab. Kitsune didn't come with them because he said still wanted to brood more atop the building of SFIT. But what they didn't know was that Kitsune decided to go home several minutes later after they had left him and now, the man was standing near the garage — unseen by anyone — listening to what his friends and Hiro said.

"What chance?" Hiro asked innocently as he busied himself with his computer.

"You know what we meant," Gogo stated. "We are talking about you purposely avoiding your brother."

"Oh," Hiro responded nonchalantly. "You meant Kitsune, not Tadashi."

 _Ouch!_ There was a sudden painful feeling inside the eavesdropper. Those words … were exactly the same words he had said to his friends in the past whenever they told him that he was Tadashi Hamada.

The Kitsune then had always refused to acknowledge Hiro as his brother. And now, was Hiro not acknowledging the Kitsune now as his brother? How the table has turned.

"No. We are talking about the other Hamada." _Of course,_ _We're talking about your brother!_

Hiro sighed. He rolled in his swivel chair to face his friends. "Guys, listen," he said calmly. "I am flattered that you care about me and … and _him._ "

"By him, you meant your brother, right?" Gogo chimed in. _Just say that he's your brother!_

"But that person," Hiro trailed off, trying to be careful with his choice of words. "that person … is not Tadashi."

"He was the same person who saved you from that creepy octopus-faced guy."

The said octopus-faced guy was one of Kitsune's former teammates — Tako. One of successful experiments that turned out to be a traitor. After Kitsune regained his memory back as Tadashi but forgot his Kitsune's life, Tako kidnapped Hiro and brought him to the leader of CASCO as the final test subject of the Project Doubutsu. Luckily, a certain detective reawakened Kitsune in Tadashi and Tadashi accepted Kitsune to be part of him in order to save Hiro. Tako eventually was killed by another one of Tadashi's former teammates, formerly known as Usagi.

"Technically, it's Tadashi who saved me, not him."

"Technically, they're the same person."

The adolescent sighed weakly. "Come on, guys. You also see _it_ , right?" He slumped into his chair and pursed his lips. "Every time I see him, I don't see _my brother_ in him like ... _he_ 's not there anymore," here, his face fell. "I meant, does he ever see me as his brother like Tadashi does? He doesn't even care about us unless it benefits him."

Gogo nodded. "He used to be an annoying jerk," she agreed, reminiscing about what Kitsune had done in the past. "but he's different now."

Honey Lemon put a comforting arm on Hiro shoulder and another one on his cheek. "We understand, Hiro. We were there," she said softly. "Tadashi had an amnesia back then. He just forgot how much he loved and cared about you. About us."

Kitsune found himself nodding at that statement. Maybe their relationship in the past would have been better if Tadashi had never lost his memory in the first place — if his feelings for his brother and his friends had never been wiped away along with his memory after the fire incident.

Hiro pulled away from Honey Lemon. "You don't understand!" he scowled, sticking to his argument desperately. "I know he is my brother but —," an image of his brother shooting two robbers 2 months ago playing in his mind ; a cold shiver ran down his spine. "—I don't feel like he's my brother. I just think that ... I think I am confused right now, okay? But ... he's not ... Tadashi."

Kitsune clenched his fists, eyes burning holes into the floor.

He was the one who had caused this. He was the one who had made Hiro hate him — no. Not hate. He was the one who had instilled an assumption in Hiro's head that Kitsune was not Tadashi Hamada. He was the one who had told Hiro that Tadashi was dead and what remained in his body was Kitsune. And he was the one who had taunted Hiro to kill him first if Hiro wanted Tadashi back.

"Then why did you offer him to team up with us on bringing CASCO down that time?" Gogo asked. "If you believed that Kitsune was not Tadashi, why did you beg him to come home with you then?"

Hiro was silent, recalling the certain moment Gogo mentioned ; his conversation with Tadashi — no, with Kitsune.

{" _Well, what are you gonna do after you take down and expose CASCO?" Hiro asked Kitsune that day. "If you've got nothing, why not come home?"_

" _You'd be housing a criminal." Kitsune retorted._

" _No, I'd be housing a family."}_

He was just so happy when he found his brother alive back then so that he insisted his big brother to come back to home.

"Admit it," Gogo went on, breaking Hiro out of his reverie. "Whether him being Tadashi or Kitsune ; he's always been your brother."

A brief pause moment —

Hiro wouldn't deny the fact that he and Kitsune shared the same DNA. Kitsune was just a personality created after Tadashi went through many physical and traumatic experiences in the Doubutsu Trials — he lost his memory, he was tortured, he watched all his group die and he blamed himself for it. Tadashi wouldn't survive if he kept being the good, selfless and nice guy so Tadashi Hamada ceased to exist and allowed himself to be consumed by hatred and the will to survive.

— then, "I told you I am still confused," Hiro grunted. "I need more time to think."

"Thinking over whether he is your brother or not is pointless when you both are already related by blood."

And Fred decided to chime in with his unsupportive response. "Hey! I heard that blood doesn't always make you a family."

Wasabi instantly elbowed him. Gogo sent him a glare. Honey Lemon set a disappointed face.

"What?" the blonde male asked innocently as he rubbed his sore arm. "Family is not always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs. Like us."

It was right, yet it was not helping in this case. Without Tadashi's trait in Kitsune, the latter and Hiro were brothers only by blood, but not by heart.

Kitsune finally decided to take over from here. The man stepped inside the garage and leaned his back to the wall. His eyes met a sight of Hiro being surrounded by his friends — that boy seemed comfortable being around them.

There was suddenly a slight of irritation inside him.

"Hey, you're here, Man," Fred greeted him with a wave, smilling widely and patting Hiro's back "Wanna join us? We're just talking with your brother here."

Everyone looked at Kitsune with smiles across their faces. Everyone but Hiro. That boy even pretended to not see him. _Damnit!_

Kitsune folded his arms on his chest. He needed to speak with Hiro in private. His head jerked towards the doorway, motioning his friends to exit.

"Leave us ."

His friends exchanged glances. Reluctantly, they stood up and walked towards the door.

Suddenly, Hiro grabbed Wasabi's sleeves in panic. For seconds, Wasabi noticed fear in Hiro's brown eyes as if said, _'please, don't leave me alone with him'._

Wasabi let out a soft sigh. He ruffled Hiro's hair in a brotherly manner and whispered. "Don't worry, Little Man. He won't bite."

Finally, the brothers were left alone in that room. Hiro felt like he was a prey being cornered by a predator. Like a small rabbit with a hungry fox. And the boy firmly believed that Kitsune overheard everything, which made thing become more awkward.

"Well," Hiro smiled sheepishly as his brother took steps forwards towards him. "I know you want to talk something to me but I just remember I have an urgent business needs to be done so —"

The boy snuck his way past Kitsune and ran for the door.

_'Not this time'_

Seen from any angles, it seemed that Hiro was attempting to escape. Just like usual. But this time, Kitsune wouldn't let him go. In the boy's haste, Kitsune managed to grab Hiro's arm ; he felt the younger boy squirming in his grip.

' _Seriously?_ _Does it look like I am kidnapping him?'_

"Stop being a complication and listen to me!" Kitsune told him. But Hiro was too busy to get himself free from the man's grasp.

With a grunt of frustration, Kitsune dragged Hiro and slammed him into the wall, pinning him with his own body. His face leaned closer to Hiro's frightened one, gazing at the boy with an intimidating face.

The younger Hamada looked terrified of the expression Kitsune wore. He felt himself getting smaller.

_Not Tadashi. Not my brother._

"Get off —", he thrashed, trying hard to push the older boy away. "— of me."

"Stop!" Kitsune held Hiro's small shoulders with an iron grip, his face was only an inch away from the boy's. "We need to talk." He said in a piercing gaze with a menacing tone.

A gaze and a tone that didn't belong to Tadashi.

Silence fell between them.

Hiro finally gave up and stopped struggling. He exhaled deeply and looked away, avoiding himself from making an eye contact with the man looming over him. Was this really the brother Gogo asked him to accept?

 _'Technically, they're the same person',_ was what that girl had told him just now.

However, Hiro always doubted that. Tadashi and Kitsune were indeed the same person ; with the same body, the same voice and now that he had recovered from his amnesia, they also had the same memory. That being said, Kitsune was not the brother Hiro knew.

Nor was he the brother Hiro wished to see

_You want to talk? Fine!_

"Did you enjoy it?" the boy started.

Kitsune just continued staring at Hiro with his cold, steely glare. The younger Hamada went on,

"Did you feel nothing when you hurted people? Or when you killed them?"

"Are you bringing up the past?" Kitusne asked back. His expression was taken by a serious tone.

Hiro nodded with his averting eyes, but he felt a pair of another eyes burning hole through him. A hand suddenly gripped his chin, forcing him to look at his brother — to that cold and apathetic expression he always tried to avoid. Not Tadashi.

"Kid — Hiro, I'd be lying if I said I didn't —"

Hiro's eyes widened in shock. _This man!_

"— but you need to understand that I didn't have a memory of me being Tadashi Hamada back then, nor did I remember what kind of human I had used to be."

That was what their friends implied just now and Kitsune decided to copy that plausible statement.

"So, you were serious when you attacked me? Or when you almost killed me?"

Kitsune narrowed his dark eyes. Was it a tricky question? He sensed the boy's questions were leading him to something that would trap him.

"Which part of being amnesia did you not understand?" _I would've never tried to kill you if I had known you were my brother!_

"Are you saying that 'when the mind forgets, the heart will remember' didn't apply you." _At least, you could've listened to your heart and recognized me!_

"Sentiment is a fatal flaw." _I never let any feels or emotions get the better of me!_

There was a sad bitter smile formed across the younger brother's lips as if he already expected what the answer would be, and suddenly, Kitsune didn't like it at all.

"What about those people?" the boy continued asking. "Did you feel nothing about those bank robbers you killed?"

And he was right that Hiro was trying to trap him. In fact, he already fell into it. "Why do you care about those people?"

"Because the brother I know would always treasure every life, even the life of a criminal."

Kitsune pulled away, but not releasing his grips on Hiro's shoulder. He pondered deeply. "Tadashi would never have injured those despicable _pests_ ," he admitted, nodding to himself as if he was talking about someone else rather than about himself. "but he would have left you to die and stayed to become a useless older brother who listened to his morals and ethics rather than saving you from _them._ "

And Hiro could no longer hold back his frustration at the unexpected answers. He finally snapped. "You killed _them_!" _How could you said such a thing like it was nothing?_ "They're humans and you caused them to their deaths. You took their lives! Did you not even feel an ounce of regret after murdering them?"

The man's dark expression morphed into one that resemble disappointment. "You expect me to take pity on people who robbed money and shot my foolish brother? No wonder you easily got kidnapped."

"Tadashi would have saved me without killing them."

"Tadashi, Tadashi, Tadashi!" Now Kitsune was starting to get sick hearing his own original personality's name. "Listen, Kid. I may not behave like _him_ , but at least, I care. I wouldn't let my brother get shoot or do nothing while you got taken away. Face it, _he's_ worthless."

The answer had a point, but at the same time, it was an insult to Tadashi Hamada and it was completely unacceptable. _How dare this man said such a thing about Tadashi?_

Hiro smacked Kitsune's hands away from his shoulders. "If you care about me, how about you do me a favor?" he asked. Or rather, he demanded. "Why don't you leave and return my brother back to me."

Kitsune was losing his patience. "I am your brother, yet you prefer _that other me_? _The one_ who's weak? _The one_ who listens to morality —"

"It's Tadashi."

" — Tadashi, whatever — _the one_ who couldn't fight for himself? _The one_ who ran into the fire for something stupid and lost his memory?"

"No, he's not —"

"He's pathetic. A complication. It was his mistake that brought himself to be CASCO's lab rat! His mistake that Maya, Chocho, Sierra, Knives and Kai died. His mistake that I existed. His mistake that —"

SLAP!

A hand suddenly landed hard on Kitsune's cheek, interrupting his rants, much to the man's dismay.

Hiro glared at the older boy, at the not Tadashi before him. "Stop saying such a thing using _his_ voice," his lips started to tremble. "don't ever stare at me with such expressions using _his_ face again." He brought his fist and sent desperate punches to Kitsune's chest repeatedly. "Just ... stop. You're not _him_. Please ... return to be _him_ again."

Every words that this man said, every gestures that this man made ; everything about him screamed that he was not Tadashi. Hiro just got his brother — his real brother — back and he hated the fact that his brother was gone again.

Why did Tadashi have to go?

Why did Tadashi have to leave him with this impostor again?

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

"So, it didn't go well?" Gogo asked with a sympathetic look.

"And you pinned your brother to a wall?" Fred added, grinning. "Should've recorded that drama and showed it to Taka."

"He was getting away." Kitsune defended himself. "He made a complication and you know how much I hate complications."

_Tadashi would never consider Hiro a complication._

"That's not the point, Hamada," Gogo faceplamed. "Hiro is your brother so you must treat him like a brother. Be more like Tadashi Hamada!"

_No wonder Hiro felt like you were not his brother._

…

After they had left the two Hamadas this afternoon in the garage, they went to the café and let the brothers to have a heart-to-heart. As they finished their coffee and donuts, they decided to check on the brothers. They thought that the said two brothers finally had a reconciliation.

But what they saw only made them drop their jaws open.

Hiro was punching his brother in the chest in despair, asking the latter to give his brother back and to leave him alone. Kitsune did nothing, neither did he said anything like he was at a loss. Gogo and Fred stepped in and pulled Kitsune away from Hiro while Honey Lemon and Wasabi held Hiro, preventing him from punching his brother more, desperately asking him what's wrong and whispering soothing words to the boy. As Hiro's body started to tremble, Wasabi scooped Hiro up ; with an apologetic smile, he and Honey Lemon carried the young boy upstairs to his bedroom to calm him down.

…

"Unbelievable!" Kitsune sighed as he flopped down to a couch, pinching his nasal bridge.

Gogo watched his friend with a look of pity, but as Kitsune's eyes met her, she suddenly averted her gaze for she had known that such a look would always angered the man. Gogo wondered if Kitsune only tried to be a brother for Hiro — to be a part of Hiro's life, just like Tadashi was. She thought it was funny because months ago during CASCO investigation, it was Hiro who desperately asked Kitsune to be his brother again.

"Tell you what, you can pretend that you've become Tadashi again?" Fred suggested. Gogo shot him a questioning look. Fred went on, "You just need to smile more like Tadashi. Talk and act like Tadashi. Never again say ; _'complications'_ or _'I'd be lying if I said blah blah blah',_ you got it?" He waggled his eyebrow expectantly. "Come on, I'll help you, Bro."

Kitsune looked at the blode with an unimpressed expression. That sounded stupid.

"I'd rather slit my throat." With that, he stood up, walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Gogo asked, but Kitsune didn't answer.

Few seconds later, a sound of a vespa started was heard.

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

Night had fallen.

Hiro just finished taking a shower. The boy just exchanged into a freshly laundered clothing when his eyes caught a sight of a red small metal box of Baymax's charger near his brother's empty bed.

_Strange. That thing wasn't here before._

Did his brother just bring it home from campus? Did he just return from whatever place he went to this afternoon? Where was he now?

As he noticed the window was open and heard a faint sound coming from the roof above his room, he had an idea where Kitsune was at.

The boy flopped down on his bed, musing on the event he had today ; Honey Lemon and Wasabi had asked him to talk again to his brother, to listen to the older Hamada, to see Kitsune as his brother.

...

_"He care about you," Wasabi told him._

_Honey Lemon was sitting on the edge of the bed, cradling Hiro to her chest. The boy listened, he was awake but he didn't respond. Fred and Gogo joined them not long after that._

_"I know this might be hard for you," the black-haired girl said. "But it actually doesn't seem as bad as it is."_

_"... like what?"_

_His brother acted like a different person. How would it be seen as a good thing?_

_"At least, Tadashi is alive. And it's better than him being dead, right?"_

_The boy froze._

_"Beside, if you pondered ; he only wanted to protect you, even if it means to ... well, turn into something you hate."_

_..._

It's not like he hate Kitsune. It was just ... every time he looked at him — at those emotionless face and dark eyes — he felt that his real brother was no longer there. That he lost his brother all over again. And he was afraid that his original brother would never return anymore.

What if Tadashi remained Kitsune forever? Does it mean he has to accept that his kind and loving brother is gone and replaced by a cold fish?

_It's better than him being dead, right?_

Hiro sighed weakly. He could never run away forever.

…

Kitsune was sitting atop the roof, right above his and Hiro's shared bedroom. Legs stretching forwards, eyes staring up at the night sky with a cigarette between his fingers. When he still lost his memory, he used to sit atop a high building and brood there as he watched the scenery of San Fransokyo. It always calmed him.

"So, you're _still_ smoking?" a small voice startled him.

Surprised, Kitsune saw Hiro suddenly positioning himself calmly next to him. Wait a minute, how did Hiro get here without him knowing?

"Can I try one?" Hiro asked again, not aware of his brother staring at him.

Kitsune flicked away his cigarettes butt and stepped on it. A body language that said _'No'._ An underage was not allowed to smoke. Didn't he already tell the boy before that cigarettes and lung cancer were interrelated.

Then, he wondered what made Hiro come to see him here considering what had happened to them earlier in the garage lab.

"I thought you'd stop smoking after regaining all your memory back," Hiro still talked. "because, well ... you know, Tadashi never smokes."

If it had been in the past, Kitsune would've told Hiro that he was not Tadashi Hamada anymore — that Hiro had to stop thinking of them both as siblings.

But now, Kitsune only huffed in annoyance. The man said nothing and grew quiet. If it was in the past, he would ask anyone who bothered him in his brooding time to leave him alone. But now, he didn't mind with Hiro's appearance beside him.

Met with an empty stare, the younger Hamada pouted and averted his gaze. But he didn't leave though Kitsune was ignoring him.

Silence fell between the brothers. There had always been silence between them since Kitsune returned to take Tadashi's place two months ago. Then a thought occurred to Kitsune ; Hiro was attempting to break the ice between them. Well, actually, it was Hiro who had been ghosting him, not the other way around.

 _'Does he ever see me as his brother like Tadashi does?'_ Hiro's words about him this afternoon echoed in his mind.

And Kitsune found himself pondering at that question.

What's his feeling about Hiro? Who is that kid to him, anyway? A family? Yes. A brother? Of course. They shared the same blood, after all.

 _'Family is not always blood.'_ Suddenly, Fred's remark replayed in his thought. _'It's the people in your life who want you in theirs.'_

Thinking deeper about it ; it meant that the Big Hero 6 was Hiro's _real_ family and Kitsune was just _no more_ than a man who's related to that kid by blood.

Brothers by blood, but not by heart.

"Listen," the older boy started without looking at the small boy. "Tell me the truth ; are you afraid of Kitsune? No — I mean, between me and Tadashi, which one do you prefer to be your brother?" Ah, that was a stupid question. Of course Hiro had made it clear that he preferred Tadashi. "Would it really make you feel better if I am gone?"

A soft snore responded his question. As Kitsune looked beside him, he found Hiro already asleep with his head resting on his knees that were folded against his chest.

He stared at the boy, studying his small figure ; his tousled jet-black hair, his light skin, his lean and slender frame ...

There was something he needed to know — a feeling he needed to feel while he was being Kitsune.

 _'Do you have a brotherly feeling for Hiro, Kitsune?'_ he asked himself.

Slowly, the man reached his hand forwards and ran his fingers through Hiro's hair softly, pushing some strand of hairs away from the boy's face. Hiro stirred, as if he was about to wake up ; that position must be uncomfortable for him.

Kitsune shifted closer a bit and carefully wrapped his hands around Hiro, slowly he brought the latter's head to his chest and continued caressing his hair.

There's a strange feeling ; strange but pleasing to the heart which offered him peace of mind — an urge to tighten his hold for more peacefullness. This was the similar feeling when he became Tadashi Hamada. He — no, Tadashi used to do this too, right? When Hiro was younger.

"This … _still_ feels right," he murmured.

Then he remembered, he — as Kitsune — also had done this before. That was when Hiro accidently stabbed him in the stomach. That time, Hiro cried hysterically, afraid of losing his brother again so Kitsune embraced the boy to calm him down.

A desire emerged. At first, it was ignorable. However, the desire turned into a need and he found himself struggling with his own mind. The need was growing and growing and before he knew it, he felt a tingling sensation in his nose. He wondered what caused it until he realized that his nose was touching Hiro's hair —

— And his lips had been lingering atop the boy's dark head.

"This … also feels right ... Otouto."

_Otouto?_

_Yes, his otouto._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the main idea of this chapter originally came from my imagination ; a kind of what if Tadashi never losing his memories during his life in Doubutsu trials. Would Kitsune still care about Hiro and the others? Would Hiro accept this not Tadashi as his brother?
> 
> I might have been a bit delusional with that drama Kitsune and Hiro had above, hahaha ...


	3. Memories

**Fox's Humanity**

**3\. Memories**

* * *

When morning came, Hiro found himself laying on his own bed, securely tucked under a blanket. His brother was nowhere to be seen. The boy grunted, feeling upset because his attempt to talk to Kitsune failed. Well, blame that Kitsune for responding too long so that Hiro fell asleep.

"Good morning, Hiro." Baymax voice greeted him. That robot was standing on his red charger.

"Morning Baymax," A yawn escaped Hiro and he had to rub the resulting teary from his eyes . "Where's Kitsu … I mean, Tadashi?"

"Tadashi is visiting a friend. He left a strict message for me to watch you today."

"Oh."

That man went to visit a friend? And he asked Baymax to look over him? That didn't sound like Kitsune at all to him. More like, it was what Tadashi would do.

"Hiro, I have a concern," Baymax suddenly told him. "I detect Tadashi's cortisol and epinephrine levels have elevated. This indicates that he is stressed or worried. I am concerned this will affect his physiological health."

Baymax waddled out of his charger and approached Hiro. Then, a screen on his chest showed a complex diagram with a picture of a human next to it — Tadashi's neurotransmitter data.

Hiro casted his gaze downward as Baymax finished explaining his diagnostic.

"Hiro, I suggest you to talk to Tadashi and help him with his psychological problems."

The boy rubbed his face in desperation. "That data belongs to Kitsune, not Tadashi."

Because Tadashi would never have any psychological problem as far as Hiro knew.

"Hiro, my data result shows that Kitsune is Tadashi. They are the same person."

' _Yes, I know,'_ Hiro thought. ' _Outside, he is Tadashi. Inside, he is not.'_

"You know the detail, Baymax," Hiro told him. "I just feel like … Kitsune is another person who has Tadashi's body and memory. I just feel like … like … Tadashi is gone."

"Tadashi is here."

Hiro laughed bitterly. Baymax had told him that once. Was Baymax going to show him the same video again?

There was a buzzing sound, the screen on Baymax's chest started to play a video.

" _This is Tadashi Hamada …"_

Hiro perked up hearing that. That was Tadashi's voice, no doubt. But at the same time, it sounded different. His tone wasn't the same. As Hiro looked up, he saw that the video playing on Baymax's chest was not the same like the video he had seen before.

This was a new video. Tadashi Hamada — no, it was Kitsune talking in that video. Talking to Baymax in particular.

 _When did he record this?_ Squinting his eyes, the boy noticed the date in the corner of the screen showed it was recorded the day before, at 5 pm.

That was the time after their yesterday's confrontation.

" _Or … am I?"_ The man in the video continued, asking himself. He was sitting on a chair in his private lab and continued talking like he was confiding his feeling to Baymax.

" _Tadashi,"_ Baymax's voice was heard from that video _. "My scanning result shows that you are 100% Tadashi Hamada."_

Kitsune in that video rubbed the back of his neck. _"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. But Hiro doesn't think so."_

At that body gesture, Hiro thought he saw his brother — his brother's kind expression on the man's face in the video.

" _Tadashi, is there a problem with Hiro? Would you like me to scan him?"_

" _No need to. That kid just hates me because I am not Tadashi."_

 _'Hate is a strong word,'_ Hiro thought, scowling. He didn't hate Kitsune. More like, he didn't feel comfortable being around him. What he knew was that his brother was caring and selfless. And the heartless and uncaring one like Kitsune was not his brother. Not his Tadashi—

" _I don't understand. You are Tada_ — _"_

" _That knucklehead believes I am another person wearing his brother's face."_

— Yes, that was exactly what Hiro was thinking about Kitsune. Impostor.

" _Tadashi, you are experiencing anger and distress. Sharing your emotion with someone you trust will help to ease your mind."_

" _Why do you think I am here talking to you?"_ Kitsune in that video sighed and grunted, _"At least, you won't try to lecture me like the others did."_

_"What seems to be the problem?"_

The man leaned over from his chair and tapped his chin, starting. _"Say, Baymax, would you think less of me if you knew I killed people?"_

There was a pause moment in the video.

 _"Tadashi,"_ Baymax voice returned. _"Did you kill people?"_

Another brief pause moment. _"... yes."_

_"Did it make you happy?"_

_"I'm warning you ; I'll shut you down right now if you try to judge me_ — _"_

_"Were you satisfied after you had me torture the robbers 2 months ago?"_

_"_ — _I'd be lying if I said I was,"_ there was suddenly a hesistant expression on the man's face. _"But I am never happy either."_

_"It's called : 'guilty'. You did what you think was right but you also feel it's wrong."_

_"Get to the point, Baymax."_

_"Murdering and violence are not justified. However, protecting the ones you love from danger can drive people into madness. What you did is wrong, however, it's understandable."_

_"Which means?"_

_"You're not a bad person."_

_"You're not saying this only to make me feel better, are you?"_

_"I am a robot. I cannot lie."_

A pause ... again.

The man in the video lowered his head, staring at the floor _._ A soft mumble was heard, _"I did it to save him."_ He slowly raised his head again, looking back at the camera — at Baymax. _"I may not be like the other me, but my feeling for Hiro are mutual. I'd be lying if I said I was okay with what I have done to him in the past. So, the least I can do now is protect him and make atone for my past mistake."_

_"Tadashi, I suggest you to talk with Hiro. It is not healthy for brothers to keep ignoring each other."_

_"Ah, but that kid wants me to disappear and return back to be my pathetic self."_ The man in the video clicked his tongue. _"Why bother? If he wants me to disappear, he knows what to do."_

Hiro felt his stomach churned.

Kitsune must had just implied _that incident_. The incident when Hiro accidently stabbed Kitsune, which eventually revived Tadashi — the brother he missed.

" _If that knucklehead wants Tadashi back, he should've known what to do. He just needs to kill me again and I won't resist."_

Hiro looked at the screen in disbelief, hands gripping onto Baymax's chest. How could his brother said such a thing so easily. But then he remembered that the one who was talking in that video was Kitsune, not Tadashi.

The world of killing always escaped Kitsune's lips easily like it was not a big deal. As much as Hiro didn't want Kitsune in his life, he never wanted the latter to die either. After all, Kitsune was ... Tadashi ... right?

_"But Hiro did never give up on me and now it's my turn not to give up on him. I'd be lying if I said this won't be humiliating but I'm considering Fred's idea. Hiro comes first."_

Hiro gasped, titling his head. It was still Kitsune who was talking, right? The boy searched his brother's face. He studied his brother's expression and —

— there! That shy smile. A flash of Tadashi just came in the Kitsune's emotionless face.

Was Kitsune just channeling Tadashi?

Was Tadashi still there?

" _Alright, Baymax. That's all for now,"_ the man in the video waved a hand in dismissal _. "I am satisfied with my care."_

The video stopped. The screen was turned off.

Hiro sighed in defeat, head resting onto Baymax's chest.

So that's what Tadashi — no, that was what Kitsune felt about Hiro?

In the past, the only thing Kitsune cared about was how to bring CASCO down.

But in the present time, the only thing Kitsune cared about was how to become Hiro's older brother. To become Aunt Cass' nephew. To become friends of Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi and Fred.

Aunt Cass and his friends already accepted his brother the way he was, either as Kitsune or Tadashi or both.

Maybe … he just had to get himself used to Kitsune as his big brother again. After all, that man had been Tadashi, no matter how different they were.

_'He only wanted to protect you, even if it means to ... well, turn into something you hate'._

"Hiro, you are crying." Baymax told him.

"Oh."

Hiro quickly wiped his tears with his sleeves. The boy didn't even realized that he was crying. Why did he cry for, anyway? He looked up at Baymax and smiled. "Thanks, Buddy."

_Thank you for once again, showing me that my brother is still always there._

A pair of flabby arms wrapped around Hiro. Then, one of those hand patted his head. "There, there."

Hiro smiled again, leaning into the touch of Baymax.

Suddenly, his phone rang. Hiro released himself from the robot's arms and reached for his phone.

Fred's name was on the screen.

"Yes?"

"Little Dude, Riot on Doragon Alley!"

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

Kitsune didn't lie when he told Baymax that he would visit a friend. He just didn't tell that robot that the said friend of his was no longer alive.

The man was standing near a gravestone that belonged to a girl who had sacrificed her life for him when they were still in the Doubutsu trials. Maya — that was her name. One of his former group — his first friend when he first woke up in the Doubutsu experiments facility and the very first person he had ever killed. The girl whom he slashed in the neck with a shard that — turned out— had been planned by Maya herself so that Kitsune could survive and continue to the next level in the trial.

Kitsune crouched down. His hand rested on that cold gray stone that had the girl's name.

"Would it be better if Kitsune ceased to exist?" he asked.

No answer, of course.

In his hand, there's an object glinted under the ray of sunshine. A silver katana. Not a mechanical one that Hiro designed. This one was a real blade from Neko — one of his former teammates — that he still kept until now.

"You told me to live out my life for myself. And I did. CASCO had fallen. Lost people reunited with their real families. Revenge had been avenged. There was no point for Kitsune to exist anymore."

Hiro had rejected him after all.

This was kinda confusing. How did he get rid of himself — Kitsune — without getting rid of Tadashi? He was Tadashi — indeed, but at the same time, he was not. How could he be called Tadashi Hamada when he didn't feel like him?

There was a buzzing sound. Kitsune reached into his pocket and answered the phone without checking out the ID caller.

"Yes?"

Gogo spoke quickly ... and urgently. "Hamada boy. Emergency. Doragon Alley. Now!"

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

San Fransokyo wasn't only known for its technological advancement and its glamorous hi-tech buildings, but also its high crime rate. It was common to find many gangsters roaming around the city and despite of their illegal activities, so far, they hadn't caused much trouble to the society. Well, not until now.

Apparently, two most feared gangsters ; Snake Fangs and Black Crow had a long-running dispute regarding their jurisdiction and today, after years of enmity between the two gangsters, their conflicts had come to its climax, resulting in open gang warfare in Doragon Alley ; a slum not far from the downtown. Too bad, this commotion impacted several residents there. And while the polices were on their way to the crime scene, it's the Big Hero 6 and Silver Samurai's duty to take action first in stopping the clash and helped people to evacuate.

As Kitsune arrived at the crime scene in his japanese attire and with a katana strapped behind his back, the situation had been in chaos.

The alley had been occupied by a bunch of hoodlums armed with spiked bats and chains. Some who knew martial arts were equipped with nunchuks and blades. Sound of metal met metal, explosions and shouts between the two group were unavoidable. As all the residents were already evacuated, the heroes now focused on stopping the battle. Peace speech sure wouldn't affect them so there was no another better way than knocking them out until the polices arrived.

Soon, The Silver Samurai joined in the fight.

"Glad you finally joined in the party, Hamada boy." Gogo greeted as she fought side by side with Kitsune.

The man didn't made any excuse for arriving late. He focused only on his opponents. So far, kicking and punching and somersaulting were more than enough to dodge and strike. Sometimes, he made a combination attack with Gogo.

"Tadashi!" Honey Lemon yelled. "Behind you!"

What?

Before the Silver Samurai managed to turn around, something heavy and sharp hit his head. Two misdirected spiked bats. The man's eyes blurred and one spike of the bats was still piercing the skin of his temple.

The man winced in pain. His cold stare met his attackers', who smirked at him with their killing intents — they hadn't lowered their weapons.

…

What annoying complications.

_Kill them_

He had been in this kind of situation before, surrounded by men he deemed scumbags.

What he was seeing was the people who had tortured him in the Doubutsu trials.

_Disgusting_

What he was seeing was the gang who attacked him in the festival the night he took down and exposed CASCO to the authorities.

_Pathetic_

What he was seeing was the robbers he assaulted two months ago.

_Complications_

Two people. Two slashes would do.

They were all complications that must be eliminated from this world.

The world would have been better without these complications.

…

Hiro — who had been watching Kitsune — sensed something was happening in his brother's mind. He didn't quite understand what was happening, but he heard faint sounds Kitsune muttered ; word of _pathetic_ and how much he hated _complications_ — words that Kitsune used to mutter to people he loathed.

The boy watched his brother pull out his katana. Then a realization occured to him ; that katana was not the non-lethal blade he designed. That was another weapon — a real lethal weapon. The boy gave Kitsune a once over and found the looks of hatred and anger on his face. He watched the man raised his blade —

For a moment, Hiro saw in his brother's place a japanese fox-masked man swinging his katana.

— and an horrifying thought struck him.

He couldn't let his brother's hands kill more people. His brother's hands — Tadashi's hands — weren't meant for killing. Not anymore. So, Hiro did what the first thing crossed his mind. The boy instantly lunged at Kitsune, attempting to stop the man before that katana could hurt —

"Ouch!"

A splash of blood flied through the air.

The sharp side of that katana had just came in contact with something, or rather, someone. But not the one Kitsune was targeting.

"... Hiro?"

Suddenly, time seemed to move in a slow motion.

Kitsune watched Hiro stare at him with shock in those big brown eyes. Eyebrows furrowed. Why did his brother look so scared?

There was a gasp in the background.

Hiro carefully brought his gloved hand up and touched his neck right beneath his helmet — at the gash that was just formed, created by his older brother.

Kitsune's heart skip a beat.

The man's gaze slowly shifted to his silver katana. That katana that used to be clean was now covered in red.

He. Just. Slashed. Hiro's. Neck.

Kitsune froze, completely shocked. His hands shook. His grip on his katana loosened, letting that weapon fell from his shaky hand. It shattered noiselessly on the ground.

His gaze returned to Hiro.

 _This can't be happening … this can't be happening … tell me it's not_ —

Thick blood was dripping between fingers that covered the little boy's neck, splattering to the ground.

— _real ..._

Hiro fell with a thud.

_No. no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ..._

Kitsune scrambled towards Hiro, carefully laying the boy onto his lap. He still refused to acknowledge the unfolding truth before him because there was no way Hiro would —

"No!" his eyes widened in realization and horror. He felt as if all his energy suddenly dissipated.

Thick crimson liquid soaking his thighs and hands that were holding the boy in his arms.

_Please … not anymore … not Hiro …_

_Hiro was his one and only brother …_

_His brother._

_His otouto._

The battle seemed to be forgotten. The echoes of clashing around them were like a faint memory of the past. Kitsune could hear dull sounds in the background behind him but he wasn't paying attention to it. He could hear yelling and snapping but it sounded distant and far away.

Gogo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred screamed at the sight of Hiro. As they were about to go to check on the younger Hamada, the thugs got in the way.

Honey Lemon created chunks of ices that trapped the gangsters' bodies, keeping them from moving. Gogo thew her disk furiously, not aware of tears welling up her eyes. Fred spun fiery planks and smacked the villains in their faces. Wasabi cut the thugs' weapons into pieces and gave them a bit taste of his laser blade.

If someone didn't know any better, he'd say the heroes were torturing these hooligans. The truth was, they were venting up their anger at these gangsters.

But, were these bandits were the one to blame? Were they the ones responsible for Hiro getting badly injured?

It was not them that hurted Hiro. It was —

Gogo glanced over the Silver Samurai over her shoulder while punching two goons.

— that man's fault ... ?

No.

She didn't want to admit it for she had known that it was an accident. It was not Tadashi's fault. Not Kitsune's either. It was all _their fault._

Kitsune removed Hiro's blood-stained helmet and cupped the boy's cheek with his bloodstained hand. Hiro stared up at the man above him with a weak smile, but soon that smile was gone, replaced by a fearful and suffering expression.

_That gash ... in his neck ... bleeding ..._

Large puddle of blood pooled below the kid's shaking form.

Kitsune's heart stopped in his chest. He gasped in panic with his trembling lips. "I ... I didn't mean to — Hiro, please —"

He had killed a lot people but never before had he felt this way before, until he realized that Hiro, actually, had been his brother all along, even when he was not being Tadashi Hamada.

_I slashed my own brother. My own otouto. My brother._

"Nii … Nii-san …" Hiro panted tiredly, reaching out his hand and place it on his brother's shoulder to comfort him. "It's … okay. This … this just a …" his breathing became labored. "… small wound."

_Small wound? You're bleeding a lot! You're badly injured, Knucklehead!_

Kitsune applied a pressure to the boy's wound in panic, hoping to stop the bleeding.

_Please, stop …. Please, stop … Please, stop ... PLEASE, STOP..._

There was no use. The blood wouldn't stop seeping from the newly gash.

_Damnit! Why doesn't it stop?!_

Kitsune felt Hiro's gloved hand on his shoulder slowly slide away. He watched it hit the ground with a soft thud in horror.

_Please, don't ..._

His shaking fingertips quickly reached for Hiro's falling hand and gripped it in his own, holding back bitter tears.

"Stay with me," he coaxed, almost pleading at the pale face beneath him. "Just … stay with me," He didn't plan it, but a tear accidently slid down his face. "Don't ... don't you dare die on me!"

Hiro's eyes were now only half opened ; he could no longer respond to anything his brother's said.

Kitsune squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lower lip.

_I did it … again_

He pulled the boy into a tight and loving cradle and swayed from side to side. He didn't care that Hiro's blood stained his clothes. He didn't want to lose this kid. He couldn't. He needed his Hiro to stay alive.

"You're going to be okay," he whispered reassuringly — no. He wished. "You're going to be okay. I promise, you're going —"

'— _to lose your brother …'_ his inner voice continued for him.

_'... just like how you lost Maya, Chocho, Sierra, Knives and Kai.'_

_'You're just repeating your mistake.'_

_'It would have been better if Kitsune never existed anymore.'_

He snapped his eyes open at the thought and unconsciously tightened his hug, making his Hiro's small body as close as possible to his.

His hands — Tadashi's hands, which always ruffled the younger brother's hair lovingly. The hands, which always embraced Hiro and kept him safe. The hands, which always built many inventions to cheer him up.

These hands were the same hands who just caused the one he wanted to protect to suffer in great pain.

_'Tadashi would never have done this. Tadashi would have protected anyone dear to him. Tadashi would never have harmed Hiro.'_

He felt something trying to pry his hold on Hiro. Something was trying to take this boy — _his brother_ , away from him.

"Back off!" Kitsune barked, tightening his embrace protectively. "Don't touch _him_!"

_Really? Isn't it supposed to be him that need to stay away from Hiro?_

"Tadashi …" it was Baymax's voice. That robot was already next to him. "Hiro's injury needs my medical attention."

"B-baymax?" Kitsune blinked. At a time like this, he even forgot that he had a robot that had information on over 1.000 different medical procedures. And the he came to a realization that his robot just wanted to help Hiro. The man looked back at the kid in his arms.

Hiro was getting paler and he was losing a lot blood. The kid was panting, too weak to speak, struggling to stay awake.

He didn't want to let this boy go. He was afraid. He was afraid that Hiro would disappear if he let him go. What if Hiro would met the same fate as Maya. What if Hiro wouldn't survi —

" ... Tadashi?" Baymax called him again, waiting for his creator to hand over the boy who needed medical care immediately to him.

Kitsune stroked Hiro's hand gently, eyes still locking on the boy's face that pictured his great pain. It hurted him, as if most part of his body was suffering as well. Closing his eyes, he brought the boy's gloved hand up and pressed it to his lips, giving it a long reassuring kiss before handing Hiro gently to Baymax's arms.

"Do anything to save him."

He had already lost many people ; he couldn't lose more. He would rather die than losing this kid — _his brother_.

Baymax took the younger Hamada from his creator and carefully laid Hiro onto the solid ground. He couldn't move the boy to a safer place due to the injury.

No one around them noticed that the battle had just ended. Or that those gangsters had been knocked out all over the alley (for a certain reason, the heroes were a bit more brutal than usual). Or that the polices had just arrived and were taking those unconscious criminals to ambulances. Or that their friends were now surrounding the brothers and Baymax with sorrowful expressions.

Gogo hugged Kitsune from behind his back to comfort the man and to comfort herself. The girl cursed and blamed herself. She shouldn't have called Kitsune here for she had known that the man was not being Tadashi Hamada. She should've calculated what Kitsune was capable of. She should've predicted that this might happen when a hard-hearted and merciless person with a weapon was let to join into a battle.

Wasabi and Fred encouraged Hiro that he would be fine. But with panic on their faces, they didn't look convicing.

"H-hey, Little dude," Never before had Fred thought he would force a smile when his heart told him to cry, to scream, to panic. "Look at me. You'll be fine. See? B-Baymax ... is ...here. He ...he'll ... heal your injury. You'll see. Y-you'll be fine. Y-you'll —"

For the first time, Fred didn't feel proud of himself for being a superhero. But not only him. At this moment, all of them felt the same. What's the point of having superpowers when they couldn't protect Hiro? What's the point of being superheroes when they let that boy get hurt ... again.

Honey Lemon couldn't hold back her sobs but unlike the others, she needed to be strong as she helped Baymax tend Hiro's wound with her chemical compound to stop the bleeding.

How did they let this to happen to Hiro? To their little brother? How did they fail to protect him? Hiro was just a kid.

Hiro felt salty droplets splattered down onto his face. But they were not his tears. They came from the faces hovering above him ; Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi and —

— Kitsune.

The looks of apathy, hatred and anger from that man were all gone. His emotionless expression was replaced by a face that showed a deep concern, care, panic and fear.

The last seconds before Hiro fell into a complete blackness, he let his final thought speak for itself.

' _Bro … that's not the face that Kitsune would wear.'_

Is Kitsune channeling Tadashi Hamada?

No.

Is Kitsune starting to become Tadashi Hamada again?

Kitsune never let go off his grip on Hiro's hand to make sure he still felt the boy's pulse. He kept a close eye on Baymax treating his brother's wound. He watched Hiro's chest rise and down, making sure his brother's still breathing.

It wasn't long before another pair of arms suddenly came into view and they were holding Hiro's limp body. As Kitsune felt those hands were forcefully tearing him away from his brother, the man instantly jerked out, desperately trying to keep the boy with him. But another hands suddenly restrained his elbow and Kitsune could do nothing but watched two paramedics cladded in white put his brother on a stretcher and wheeled away quickly.

Then it registered the fact that Hiro was being taken away from him ... again.

_If you don't want to have something to be taken from you, you are going to take things from other people._

So, he stood and rushed after them _—_

 _—_ only to stumble and fell.

_You should never existed … Kitsune._

His head suddenly hurts, like someone was hammering his skull repeatedly ; his vision was fuzzy and the ground below him was rising upwards or ... was he falling down towards it?

When his friends cried out his name, he had already been unconscious.

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

It was all a blur at first. Then, everything came into focus.

He found himself in a familiar place ; in one of the most secure prisons of San Fransokyo. He had been here before in a mission to collect Callaghan in order to get information about CASCO.

There he saw himself. Or rather, a ghost of the past. The Kitsune of the past, to be precise. He saw his past self — a man wearing a kitsune mask— pointed a pistol at a purple-suited boy in the head.

"...Hiro?"

This had happened before.

Hiro was trying to stop his past self from taking Callaghan. The boy didn't move. And a menacing smile formed across the Kitsune's past self as he pulled the trigger and —

"Wait! Don't —"

— BANG!

Blood splattered around the floor. The young boy was still there. But his head was no more.

"Hiro!" The present Kitsune's scream fell on deaf ears. In fact, no one seemed to notice that he was there.

This was not the same like how it had happened. If it went according to the past, his past self was not supposed to kill Hiro.

_But your mind told you to eliminate that boy. And you would have if Fred hadn't distracted you._

He closed his eyes tight. He remembered ; he almost did _it_ to his brother.

He opened his eyes again.

Hiro's body was still lying there on his small pool of blood.

Shaky legs slowly brought the present Kitsune to his brother.

The world seemed to spin madly around him before he could reach the boy. And what he knew next, he was brought to another place yet still familiar place — atop a tall building of his old headquarters in a cloudy afternoon.

His battle with Hiro.

Right in front of him, he saw his past self pinning Hiro down. His past self's hand was holding a wakizashi above Hiro's head and slowly, his past self brought its hand down to the young boy beneath him.

This also had happened before. That time, his hand froze suddenly, as if it refused to hurt Hiro — to kill Hiro.

But what was not the same was that this time, his past self's hand didn't stop —

"W-wait —!"

— and the blade met his target.

The present Kitsune felt like the air was knocked out of his lung at the scene before him ; he also almost did _this_ to Hiro.

The man heard Hiro scream in pain, but his past self only smirked in satisfaction. A sick smile that made the present Kitsune wanted to puke.

"Let _that kid_ go, you damnit!" the present Kitsune was ready to lunge at his past self, to drag him away from Hiro, however —

— the world spun again and this time, he was taken to a familiar small room he knew — his old bedroom.

But the present Kitsune was already sick. What pain his past self had inflicted to Hiro this time? He knew the answer but he didn't want to remember it.

There was a bed near the wall and Hiro hopped on it.

 **"Meh, your bed back home is more comfortable."** The boy said pointedly.

The past Kitsune narrowed his eyes as he approached Hiro. " **'Home' you say?** " and he bent down on to eye-level. There was a apprehension and a dash of cruel sadism on his gaze.

 **"** **_Kid, you need to understand that I am not your brother. Not anymore at least. Your brother is dead. You need to stop clinging to the ghosts. It's pathetic. And it makes me sick to the stomach. Stop pestering me with your stupid fantasies."_ **

There was hurt in the boy's eyes.

And suddenly, there was an urge in the present Kitsune to slap his past self hard. To punch him for saying such a hurtful thing to his Hiro.

He probably had already said it and now he would say it again to himself that he hated his past self — hated himself in the past.

_To Hiro, you — probably —are not the brother he wants._

There had never been happy memory between him and that boy. What he did in the past still affected Hiro and that was the reason why that boy always turned his eyes away from him. The reason why Hiro couldn't accept him as his brother.

He didn't care when the world spun again. He didn't care when it stopped. He didn't care when he found himself in a dark old abandoned facility. He didn't care when —

**_"I said that I couldn't kill you, but I never said that I couldn't hurt you."_ **

— he started at the voice spoken in a cold menacing tone.

The present Kitsune titled his head and his eyes widened in fear at the scene before him.

His past self put his pistol on Hiro's shoulder.

Another bad memory.

 **"** ** _Dashi, please …,"_** a voice was heard, coming from Hiro's lips.

"Bastard!" The present Kitsune gritted his teeth as he watched the scene of the past. "Get away from that kid!"

His past self pulled the trigger. Then —

BANG!

Hiro was jerked backward. His shoulder was bleeding. But the past Kitsune only watched the boy in his pain like he enjoyed it.

"Bastard! You idiot!" The present Kitsune dashed to Hiro's aid. But as his hand reached the boy —

— his body only went through Hiro's, as if Hiro was just a hologram. _Shit!_

Hiro let out a muffle sobs.

And suddenly, the present Kitsune felt his heart ached at the sight of the poor boy. He glared at his past self — at his past self's wicked smile.

Anger bubbling up inside the present Kitsune. "Just go to hell, You damnit!"

_I did this … I almost did this to Hiro …_

How much he wanted to protect that boy from himself — from his past self, to be exact.

The world spun again …

"Don't," Kitsune whispered, his voice breaking. "Stop."

He didn't think he could watch himself hurt Hiro more. He didn't think he could bear more pain he had caused to that boy.

Surprisingly, he wasn't transferred into another different place. He was still here.

_'Is it done yet? Is that all?'_

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

_'What the — ?'_

He found his past self firing his pistol blindly … aimlessly to everywhere like he was an insane gunman.

Hiro, his friends and his teammates were seen trying to stop him _—_ to stop the madness his past self was causing. But the past Kitsune didn't listen to them. In fact, it seemed that he was not there, like he wasn't aware of what he was doing.

Psychosis, was it?

His past self was … crying…

His past self looked … pathetic…

A scream was heard.

A bullet just met its target.

Then, another scream joined even before the first scream had died down.

Another target.

Next, there was a sound of a pistol firing continuosly. Every shots were followed by nonstop cries and screams from their targets.

The present Kitsune fell to his knees, kneeling on all fours helplessly. He covered his ears, but he still could hear the gunshots and the screams.

 _'Please … stop it …'_ he whimpered, pleading _. 'don't do this anymore…'_

The pistol had stopped firing and so had the screams.

The present Kistune saw his past self standing among lifeless humanoid forms sprawling here and there on a small pool of blood.

His friends ... his teammates. They were all —

Not breathing, not moving, not screaming.

— dead.

A small body of a child in purple armor lying around those dead bodies caught his attention.

_Hiro!_

He scrambled to a stand. He scrambled to his lifeless brother.

At the sight of Hiro sprawling motionlessly and covered in blood, the dam was breaking.

He screeched hysterically as he let his own body fall and kneel down. His hand shook, reaching out to touch the boy, but again —

— his hand only went through it.

He tried again and again in frustration, but his fingers was never able to touch that kid. He knew he couldn't but he didn't stop, desperately trying to take his brother into his arms.

_Damnit!_

He was just met with a blank stare.

His brother was dead. _Dead ... dead ... DEAD ..._

The present Kitsune wailed, gripping his head as his entire body began to shake furiously with sobs.

He could no longer distinguish which one was real and which one was not.

_._

_._

There was a click sound.

_._

_._

He saw his past self pressing the nozzle of the pistol onto his own temple.

He remembered that scene.

In the past, the pistol had been out of its bullet. But in this unreal place, it hadn't been.

The past Kitsune pulled the trigger.

The present Kitsune didn't try to stop him.

BANG!

The present Kitsune felt the bullet hit his head though he's not the one who got shot.

With that, he was dead. Killed. But he didn't care anymore.

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

 _The man was standing in an empty white place with many colorful petals flying with the wind. Five different flowers scattered around his feet ; manifestations of his former group that died during his life in the human experimentation_ — _Maya, Knives, Kai, Chocho and Sierra. He had caused them all to their demises and he had let them live in him_ — _had let them take his place_ — _which had created Kitsune in him._

_The man bent down, collecting those flowers and held them close to his chest. Then with a look of determination, he stood up and threw them all into the air. The cluster of flowers swirled together into a floating black mass and made a form of a japanese fox mask that grew limbs until it became a complete human body wearing a japanese fox mask._

_Kitsune._

_The kitsune opened his mask, revealing a face that very similar to the man's face. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised that you would still want to see me again."_

_The man shook his head in response and smiled warmly. "You've been part of me. Beside, I am nothing without you."_

_"I failed to protect Hiro."_

_"No," the man took a step forwards. "We both failed."_

_Kitsune nodded in agreement, his eyes drifted off in contemplation. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't your fault. You have made yourself a complication by not doing what you should've done—"_

_The man chuckled. "I know."_

_"_ — _you're weak and pathetic."_

 _"I know! And that's why I still needed your help_ — _my own help."_

_Kitsune narrowed his eyes in suspicious. "Are you suggesting me to take your place again?"_

_"No," the man breathed deeply. "No, of course not. But I already told you I couldn't save my little brother if I stay the way who I am," he reached out a hand. "so I'm still accepting you."_

_Kitsune only stared skeptically at that proffered hand. "I only know how to destroy and hurt people," he reminded the man._

_"Yes," the man didn't lowered his arm. "And you need me to make sure you won't do it again."_

_For a moment, they stared at each other. A pair of warm brown orbs met a pair of cold ones._

_"Hey," the man called 'the fox' with a warm smile. "Didn't you say you were tired of being alone?"_

_Kitsune sighed in defeat. "I'd be lying if I said I wanted to die."_

_"And you'd be lying if you said you no longer wanted to see Hiro and our friends."_

_Kitsune placed his mask back to his face. "You better not let anything happen to him anymore, Tadashi Hamada," He stretched out his hand forwards. "And this time, you better keep me under control and not let me take your place again."_

_"I promise."_

_Their hands touched. The man — Tadashi Hamada — pulled the other him into a gentle hug. And this time, it's Kitsune's body that disappeared, leaving only his mask in his twin's hand._

_Tadashi Hamada observed the object in his grip_ — _a kitsune mask._

_Would they make the same mistake again?_

_Or ..._

_Did they deserve a second chance?_

_The man smiled to himself. Then he put the mask on his face and fastened the string around his head._

_It still fits on his face perfectly._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was inspired from the most depressing scenes in Fox-Face and Flames ; where the death of Tadashi group had caused Tadashi to lose his humanity. I've always thought how about non amnesiac Kitsune experience the same thing again, but now, he has to watch his brother die by his arms the same way he did to Maya and how it would affect him.
> 
> Ok, so ... I am not really good at writing. At least, not as beautiful as tyki, hehehe ... but I want to make this story as canon as possible so I re used some dialogues, scenes and words from the original story. Like a parallel between the past and the present (?)
> 
> Credits to tykimikkity for these scenes ;
> 
> The idea where Tadashi slashed Hiro's neck was inspired from chapter 14 where Tadashi accidently slashed Maya's neck but he once got a dream in chapter 6 where it was Hiro who died.
> 
> The scenes where Kitsune saw his past self with Hiro was taken from chapter 10, 11 and 15. The exchanged dialogues between Hiro and Kitsune in this scene were written by tyki in the original story and I added those in this story without changing anything.
> 
> The scene where Tadashi talked with Kitsune and reaccepting him was inspired from chapter 24. It was a beautiful scene


	4. Reversion

**Fox's Humanity**

**Chapter 4 : Reversion**

* * *

His eyes slowly fluttered open.

"He's awake!" Someone yelled in relief.

As his eyes were completely open, he found himself laying on a bed in a hospital room. His friends surrounding him.

"How's your feeling?" Honey Lemon asked in concern voice.

_Why does it feel like a déjà vu?_

He rubbed his temple. "W-what happened?"

Everyone exchanged worried glances.

"You don't remember?" Gogo asked. "Don't tell me you have amnesia again."

The man tried to recall. This morning, he went to a cemetery to visit Maya's grave. Then Gogo called him to come to Doragon Alley to stop a clash of two gangsters. Then two spiked bats hit his head. Then he swung his katana and —

_Splash of blood flied through the air._

"Hiro!" he gasped, bolting upright and searching his brother among his friends. There was no Hiro. Could it be that his brother — n _o! Is Hiro_ —

"Hiro is fine." Wasabi quickly told him before his friend started to freak out. "The operation was a success. He has been transferred to children's ward now. Aunt Cass is with him."

Hiro's still alive. He survives. Thank's goodness.

He felt relief washing over him. He wanted to cry in happiness. And that's what he was doing. He hugged Wasabi tightly, repeatedly whispering _thank you, thank's goodness_ to nobody in particular. His body shook, either it was because he almost lost his brother or the horrible visions he had just seen.

Gogo studied his face. "You're ... crying?"

The man in question wiped his tears. "Yeah," he said, practically sobbing. "I am just glad that my little brother survived." His face slowly morphed into a guilty expression. "It's my fault … I did it to him … I … I didn't mean to, but ..."

"Whoa, whoa, hold the phone!" Fred suddenly raised a finger, startling his friends. He pulled his face closer to the patient's, squinting his eyes.

"Fred?" Wasabi asked, whispering, "What are you doing?"

A wide grin spread across the blonde's face. "Who are _you_?" It was a question asked intentionally.

At first, their friends were confused, but seconds later after Fred's question was uttered, they realized something.

That concerned voice … that worried expression … that smile ... those belonged to Tadashi. That apathetic eyes and expresionless face had disappeared and returned to a human face that showed many emotions.

Honey Lemon cupped the patient's face, studying his face closely. No more blank or intimidating stare. She was met with a pair of warm brown teary eyes that showed happiness and relief.

"T-tadashi?" she asked with full of hope. "Is that … you?" or was Kitsune just channeling Tadashi?

This man was sobbing, shaking and stammering helplessly. Certainly not Kitsune. This man ... this man —

— smiled. Warmly.

"I ... I guess?" he replied, chuckling but tears still flowing down his cheeks. "I am not sure. I feel like myself."

Honey Lemon pulled her friend in for a tight embrace. She didn't need to know how Tadashi became Kitsune or how Kitsune returned to be Tadashi. It did never matter to her.

"Oh, Tadashi," she whispered. "Hiro will be so happy."

Apparently, what Kitsune did to Hiro in Doragon Alley had triggered something in him. Seeing Hiro dying by his arms was an unbearable pain for him. And such an unbearable pain was too much to endure, even for Kitsune. It killed him inside and thus, let Tadashi resurface and take a full control over his body.

Kitsune, however, was still in there because Tadashi would always need him to help Big Hero 6 and to look after his brother.

He closed his eyes and forced to the memory of how terrified he had been today out of his mind.

"Take me to Hiro."

…

They arrived at Room 102. Fred opened the door and Tadashi was the first one who entered.

There was his brother — Hiro, on his bed. Sleeping. Breathing. Alive. Saved.

The boy was dressed in a hospital gown that was too big for his bony frame. An oxygen mask was placed on his nose and an IV was hooked to his left arm. A heart monitor with monotone beeping sounds was stationed near his bed. His small chest rose and down. Those indicated that he was —

 _—_ alive.

Aunt Cass was sitting on a chair next to the bed with her hand gripping her youngest nephew's hand tightly. As she noticed the visitors, she smiled weakly. Dark circle under her puffy red eyes. Obviously, she just cried.

"Tadashi, you're awake."

Tadashi smiled back. "Yes, Aunt Cass." His eyes met Hiro's frail form.

His brother still seemed weak and pale. A bandage was wrapped around his neck _—_ his very delicate, thin neck that Tadashi worried it would break like a twig.

But Hiro's alive. That's the most important thing.

Aunt Cass stood from her chair. She wiped a tear on her cheeks, sniffling. "The doctor said _he_ would be fine."

Tadashi's gaze shifted back to his aunt. Then, he took the woman into his arms.

Aunt Cass buried her face into her nephew's shoulder, bursting into tears. Why did bad things always happen to his family, to his nephews _—_ her children _._ She lost her oldest nephew once and she couldn't bear to lose another one _—_ her littlest boy.

"We're not going to lose _him_." It was both a statement and a question. "My baby _— he's_ gonna make it, right?"

Tadashi rubbed a soothing circle on his aunt's back. "Yeah." He nodded. " _He_ 'll be fine."

Hiro would be fine, _he_ must be fine or else Tadashi would never forgive himself.

The older Hamada untangled himself from his aunt and made his way to his sleeping brother carefully. Hiro looked so peaceful compared to the visions he had just seen. The older brother took his brother's small hand in his larger one and squeezed it gently, leaning down closer as he plant a soft kiss to Hiro's forehead.

"Hi, Knucklehead." He whispered. "Your Tadashi is back."

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

The little boy was alone. He was left alone in a strange grassy area with nothing else but himself. He knew nothing. He remembered nothing. Yet he knew, he didn't belong here.

Above him was bright blue sky ; below him was a deep pool that stretched out endlessly and he was standing on it, defying physics.

He didn't think it was out of ordinary.

There were two persons standing not far away from him. Two adults ; a man with short black hair and a lovely woman with brown shoulder-length hair, both were looking fondly at him.

He wondered if he knew them. Those faces were familiar to him, he had seen them somewhere. He had lived with them. He used to call them —

"... _Okaasan?_ " the word escaped his lips even without him realizing it. " _Otousan?"_

The adults smiled warmly that it melted the boy's heart. They streched out their arms, inviting the boy to come closer.

The boy took a step forward —

"Hi, Knucklehead," a voice called him from behind.

— and he froze with one leg still in midair.

The little boy looked behind him over his shoulder. Another man — younger than the other man he called otousan — was revealed before him, staring at him with his warm brown eyes. The boy knew he also had seen this man before. In fact, this younger man seemed more familiar than the otousan.

Something told him that this man was very important to him — someone he longed to see.

"Nii-san,"

The young man opened his arms widely and gave a gesture to the boy to come to him. The boy turned around and walked on water to that young man with smile across his face.

Getting closer and closer, the boy saw the young man's face more clearly. Getting closer and closer, the young man's expression was starting to transform —

The boy's eyebrow furrowed, yet he didn't stop.

— Getting closer and closer, those warm brown eyes faded and now were replaced with a pair of dark orbs —

The boy's steps became slower.

— Getting closer and closer, a cruel smirk was formed on the young man's face. His hand were now holding a sword that came out of nowhere —

The boy felt a sudden pain around his neck, like something sharp was pricking the skin under his chin. He brought up his hands there and felt something wet seeping from it. Looking back at his hands, they were now coated in thick crimson fluid.

— Getting closer and closer, he heard the young man spoke : "Your Tadashi is back."

Tadashi?

Nii-san?

The boy stopped. He stopped because he didn't want to get closer to this man.

_This man was not Tadashi._

_This man was not his nii-san._

He was about to go back to the pair that he called Otousan and Okaasan earlier.

Only, he couldn't.

The water below him was starting to get higher and higher until it almost reached the boy's knee. Yet, the same thing didn't happen to the young man. He saw himself was getting shorter while the young man before him was getting taller.

Then the boy realized the truth ; the water was swallowing him. In other words, he was pulled downwards into the pool.

He tried to move his body, he tried to swim. Key word : 'tried'. Every part of his body that came in contact with the water were suddenly paralyzed. As his entire body was completely in underwater, he was totally immobilized. He was falling deeper and deeper into the pool.

Here was dark, cold, and lonely.

They boy was scared, hoping anyone would find him soon. To save him. To take him out of this scary place.

The last thing he saw before he was consumed by the darkness was the young man's face staring down at him with his apathetic eyes.

"Nii-san ..."

Dark spots filled his vision, pressing in too tightly for him to see anything else as the ringing in his ears faded away into stillness.

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

_He saw Hiro entangled in the robber boss' grasp, with a pistol digging into the boy's skull. He saw his baby brother whimpering. He wanted to go there to retrieve his brother from the bandit but he couldn't because the robber boss said he would pull the trigger if he dared to come closer._

_He shifted his gaze from Hiro to the boss. The boss' face morphed ;_ _his hair became longer and his expression was starting to melt away until it formed back into a more recognizable feature._

_He was now staring at a new yet familiar face — a face he hated with every fibre of his being. A face that stared back at him —_

_"Tako!"_

_— and grinned._

_A mischiveous smile formed across Tako's face as he ran a finger gently to Hiro's cheek. "Thank you, Fox," he said with pleasure. "Thank you for returning my Alice back to me."_

_This couldn't be true. Tako had died. Usagi had killed him. So, how did this psycho —_

_"Let's go, Alice," Tako purred into Hiro's ears, his pistol pressing into the boy's temple. "Come with me to Wonderland."_

_As the last word was uttered, Tako pulled the trigger._

_..._

Tadashi shot up immediately, drenched from head to toe in sweat. He panted heavily, eyes rapidly darting this way and that until he realized that he was sitting on his bed in his dim bedroom.

He let out a deep breath and ran a hand through his matted hair. That's just a dream — no. A nightmare. A nightmare that kept invaded his dream since his failure to protect Hiro from the bank robbers. His failure that let Kitsune take a full control of his body. His failure that let his hand slash —

His eyes met with an empty bed across the room and soon he felt stabbing sensation weigh down on his chest.

— Hiro.

The alarm clock on his bedside table showed that it was 3 in the morning.

He couldn't go back to sleep so he just rested his back on the headrest and staring blankly at the ceiling above him. That was when he saw Baymax staring at him from his charger box. The robot tilted his head as he blinked.

Tadashi smiled. "I am fine, Baymax," he told his robot. "I was just having a nightmare. Sorry for waking you up."

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

3 days had passed and Hiro had yet to awaken. The doctor told that it was probably caused by losing about 40% of his blood that Hiro's body entered into a coma phase. But the kid's body was starting to get stable and his wounds were starting to get better.

Every morning, Tadashi would wake up with an empty bed on the other side of his room as a reminder that his brother was not there. Then, he would continue his day by taking shower before he had his breakfast. Later, he would go to college and after class ended, he and his friends would go straight to hospital.

Visiting the younger Hamada was a daily agenda they wouldn't want to skip ; it had been part of their new daily activities.

But most of time during visiting hours, Tadashi would only sit on his couch and watch his friends and his sleeping brother from afar, distancing himself from them.

Honey Lemon would be seen holding Hiro's limp hand while Fred were reading the comatose boy story from his comics or telling everything that happened in SFIT that day. On some occasions, Wasabi would ruffle Hiro's hair and Gogo would be found sleeping on a chair next to the patient's bed.

It was like Tadashi's role as the big brother was taken over by his friends and Hiro didn't need him anymore. And the big brother felt as if his friends were pretending that he was not there, like they didn't trust him with Hiro.

_They don't blame me for what have happened to Hiro, right?_

It would be a lie if Tadashi said he wouldn't love to do _all those things_ to his brother himself. The man could picture himself standing there beside Hiro ; holding his small hand, caressing his messy hair, telling him his new project, sleeping next to him ...

Yet there's a feeling inside of him telling that he couldn't. That he was not allowed to get near Hiro. Not even had a right to be here.

Unable to do anything ... such a useless older brother he was.

As night fell, Aunt Cass would come and she would stay together with the others until visiting hours were over. Then, they would give Hiro their good night kisses and promised they would visit again the next day.

Aunt Cass said that this felt like a déjà vu. Months ago, it was Tadashi who wouldn't wake up from his coma after Hiro had accidently stabbed him. And now, the roles had reversed.

"... you had no history of drugs usage," Aunt Cass told Tadashi as she drove the car on their way to home. "So the doctor only assumed that you might just not want to wake up that time."

Tadashi noticed his aunt's grip on the steering wheel tightened and her body tensed at something that suddenly crossed her thought.

"Aunt Cass?" Tadashi called worriedly.

"T-tadashi ...?" the woman asked without turning to her nephew, still focusing on the dark paved road ahead. Her lips trembling. "Do you ... do you think Hiro is experiencing the same thing?"

Tadashi raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think ... Hiro might not want to wake up too?"

Tadashi felt his blood run cold at the asked question. He didn't reply with a comforting answer he usually came up with. The man just stared down at his own hands. The hands that had nearly led Hiro to his death— that had caused his brother to be confined in hospital bed.

He might not be a medical student, but he knew Hiro shouldn't fall into a deep coma for days. It was not right. Unless ...

An unpleasant thought struck him.

"... Aunt Cass," he mumbled. "What if ... Hiro wouldn't want to see me again?"

"Hush, Sweatie. That wouldn't —"

"I am a useless older brother," he whispered, his voice hollow.

"No, Tadashi. Listen, you're not — "

"I did it to _him_."

At the mention of the latest words, Aunt Cass bit down on her lower lips to get it to stop shaking. But her efforts failed with her oldest nephew's next words.

"I don't think I would be ready to see him when he's awake."

He didn't think he's a better brother for Hiro. He didn't deserve forgiveness from his brother.

_Useless_

Hiro would be so much better without a useless older brother like him.

_You're useless, Kitsune_

_Useless ... pathetic_

**.**

**~0~0~0~**

**.**

The others were having lunch in the hospital canteen when two of his former teammates came to visit the next day ; Sasha Peters, 14 years old girl — formerly known as Hebi and Thomas Rhine, a 30 years old man — formerly known as Usagi. Both the girl and the man cared for Tadashi and Sasha could see how suffering Tadashi was without his brother.

The girl sat on a chair where Gogo used to sit next to Hiro's bed.

The boy looked so weak, so fragile that she was worried Hiro would shatter into a million pieces if she touched him. This boy was really different from the boy she met during their CASCO investigation. The Hiro she knew was strong, stubborn, determined, fiesty, and sassy.

But this Hiro —

Had Hiro always been this small?

Sasha leaned closer to the younger Hamada and whispered,

"You better wake up soon," she said in a voice which she thought a grouse. "because I hate seeing my dear Tadashi sad."

She got no response, but still, she waited. She waited for any motion from the boy. Waited for the boy to stir, for his eyelids and fingers to twitch ...

But there was no movement at all.

The girl sighed. "This may sound cliché ; I'd be lying if I said we didn't miss you."

And somehow, Sasha missed the old days where she and Hiro always had heated arguments regarding Kitsune/Tadashi.

Tadashi and Thomas were sitting on a couch on the other side of the room, watching both adolescents from there.

"Hiro is a strong boy," Thomas commented with a smile on his face, and somewhat proudly. "That boy has done a lot of things to get you back and he'll wake up soon to see his brother again."

"He won't forgive me." Tadashi remarked, talking to himself as he watched Sasha talk something to his sleeping brother. "I nearly killed him." _And it was not even the first time._

"Cross my heart and hope to die," The older man replied firmly, "the boy loves you too much that he would still adore you even if you tried to kill him multiple times."

All the more reason to hate himself even more. "At least it would make things better if I never appear again in his life," Tadashi rubbed his face. "I probably should never have came home after the fall of CASCO."

_That way, Hiro might never get hurt._

There was a sigh from Thomas. "Fumiko would kill you if she heard that. Don't waste what she had sacrificed so we could return to our real family."

Fumiko was the only Tadashi's former teammate — formerly known as Neko — who didn't return to his real family. She sacrificed her own freedom because someone needed to stay as a living proof as well as a witness to everything CASCO had done ; a decision which initially Tadashi would take before Neko talked sense into him to go back to Hiro.

"I should've turned myself in to the authorities back then."

At this moment, Thomas held back the urge to slap Tadashi. "I wish you are Kitsune right now who believes that sentiment is a fatal flaw."

Tadashi leaned over from the couch as he buried his face into his palms ; he looked hopeless.

Thomas shook his head ; he knew Kitsune so well but he didn't know much about Tadashi despite of the fact that both characters being the same person. He let out a deep breath and spoke again,

"Now, Tadashi, look at your brother over there and tell yourself that you want nothing to do with him _—_ "

Tadashi raised his head, looking at Hiro — still laying on the bed with Sasha sitting next to the boy. He felt his heart sank.

"— look at your brother and tell yourself that you won't see him again _—_ that you don't want to live with him anymore."

The younger man stared at Thomas; he blinked. "I think you misunderstood me," he said calmly. "I never said that I would _—"_

 _"_ — give up on yourself? Run away? What's the difference?"

Tadashi was about to open his mouth to retort, but Thomas had preceeded him.

"I've already known from the first moment I saw you sitting in this couch. You're not doing any good by keeping yourself away from your brother."

Tadashi froze.

Truthfully, he was afraid. Afraid of hurting Hiro more and for what he had done to his brother made him disgusted with himself. He fully knew Hiro would forgive him. Aunt Cass and his friends ; none of them blamed him. But he couldn't help but picture the way they gazed at him. The way his Aunt told him that it was not his fault the night before. The way his friends always looked at him with their pitying look from Hiro's bed.

"I ... I was just thinking that this might be the best for —"

"For Hiro? No, you're not doing this for him ; you're doing this for yourself."

And suddenly, Tadashi could almost hear Fumiko's voice joined Thomas'.

_'You're a selfish idiot, Kit.'_

_'You're running away.'_

"Listen, we all made mistake," Thomas went on, staring deeply into the younger man's eyes. "Believe me, I've been in your shoes before. We killed a lot people. I killed innocent people that I thought I wouldn't be able to return home to face my son again." There was a bitter smile. "But what's gone is gone."

Tadashi averted his gaze, lowering his head and staring down dully at the floor as he still listened _—_

"Right at this moment, Hiro probably needs you the most."

 _—_ And returned to glance over at his little brother.

_**Where are you when he needs you?** _

"Mark my word, Tadashi," the older man continued, "Don't make decision that you'll regret someday," somewhat, it sounded like a warning. "Don't repeat your mistake. You leave him again and you'll end up hurting him more than he already is."

**_Have you had enough for making Hiro cry?_ **

He heard someone talking in his head, not Kitsune's voice, not Thomas's, not Fumiko's but his own. A nag that was addressing to himself.

**_Have you had enough for being a useless older brother?_ **

_..._

After Sasha and Thomas bid their goodbye, Tadashi finally made up his mind;

One, He wouldn't waste the opportunity to stay with his brother that Fumiko gave him.

Two, He accepted the fact that his love for his brother was stronger than his fear for running away from his life.

The young man stood up from his couch and moved to sit on a chair next to Hiro's bed, carefully taking his brother's small hand and placed it on his own cheek with a tired smile. His eyes never leaving the younger's one ; Hiro was so young, sleeping peacefully like an innocent child.

But he had slept too long.

"I'm sorry," Tadashi mumbled weakly.

There were many things he was sorry for ; sorry for running into a burning building and leaving him alone, sorry for losing his memory and trapped in Project Doubutsu, sorry for being Kitsune and forgetting him, sorry for letting him involve in CASCO's case, sorry for not able to protect him, sorry for being Kitsune again the second time ...

... and sorry for slashing him in the neck.

Thomas was not wrong. Hiro was a strong boy, no doubt — he was a superhero, after all. But Hiro was also just a kid ; he's not immortal, he could be hurt. What if he would never —

"— open your eyes, Otouto. Please, come back to us."

_What happened, Hiro?_

_You can wake up now._

_Don't you miss me?_

_Don't you want to see me again?_

_Please, say something ... anything ..._

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

It was like a beautiful field. Bright blue sky stretched out above him and below him were ground covered in green cropped grass. Nothing was out of ordinary, except that this was not a place belong to mortal realm.

Yet, Tadashi felt it was so real.

Beside, he was not alone here.

There was a lithe form of a young boy dressed in white with pale face revealing himself in front of him. The boy was crouching down in front of the largest pool of water he had never seen before.

Small. Messy hair. Around five feet tall. Couldn't be more than 15 years old.

"Hiro?" Tadashi rubbed his eyes. Is _that boy really his brother? Or, Is this just another dream?_

It seemed like it was really the boy's name and the boy heard Tadashi called him because then, the boy raised his head and stared at Tadashi with his blank stare. The boy only nodded as a response before returning to stare down at the pool.

Tadashi took a hesitant step forward, then he walked several steps approaching the boy and gave him a once over. The boy didn't seem aware of Tadashi standing beside him as the boy was still busy watching the pool below him. Tadashi shifted his gaze, curiously following to where the boy was looking at. _Is there something interesting in the pool?_

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

There's another Hiro, floating down there beneath the clear surface, sleeping peacefully.

Tadashi quickly returned to gaze at the boy beside him, but the boy who had his brother's face was no longer there.

 **_'Help him'_ ** **.**

A slight of de javu.

This scene felt familiar, yet he couldn't remember when it happened.

Tadashi breathed in deeply and counted to three before he jumped into the water with no hesitation. He dived in, ignoring the cold water prickling his skin. His hand reached downwards, touching and grabbing his brother's wrist and brought Hiro's body to his arms. Securing the small figure protectively in his embrace, he swam upwards.

Gasping, he let out a deep breath he was holding as his head broke free from the water. Then he continued swimming onward, taking his brother with him. As he reached the side of the pool, he laid himself onto the solid ground with Hiro's unconscious form draping on top of him.

Panting, the man studied his little brother's face resting on his chest. His hand moved and gently patted Hiro's cheek.

"Hiro," he whispered. "Wake up." _Can you hear me?_

An another slight of de javu. But he was pretty sure, that time, he was not the one who awake and Hiro was not the one who slept.

"Mm..." came a small respond. Tadashi patted his brother's cheek again.

"Wake up."

Slowly, the dark head on his chest moved. And its face was facing the older brother's.

And Tadashi was met with the most beautiful brown eyes he missed so much.

"Nii ... san...?" the little brother mumbled.

Tadashi smiled warmly. "I am here."

A silence.

Suddenly, Hiro surprised him by wrapping his small hands around his brother's neck, burying his face into his brother's shoulder.

"Nii-san!" He cried.

Tadashi felt Hiro's entire body was shaking with sobs. The arms around his neck tightened desperately and his little brother kept calling his nii-san repeatedly. Tadashi blinked, but then he came to a realization; Hiro must have felt scared. And those tears was the result of such emotions ; tears from being left alone, tears from being trapped in such a dark cold place, tears from being saved, and tears of relief from being found by his older brother.

Tadashi couldn't help but returned the hug. He gave a gentle and loving embrace around his brother in attempt to calm his shakes and whispered reassuring and soothing words into his ears.

"It's okay, I'm here."

"I'm ... I'm sorry, I ..."

"Shhh ..." he ran his fingers through his brother's hairs. "It's okay, I've got you."

"Nii-san ..."

"I've got you, Hiro..."

_I've … got … you …_

…

"…shi. Tadashi … wake up."

Tadashi kept hugging his pillow, still mumbling. "I've got you."

Aunt Cass patted his nephew's cheek lightly. "Come on, Tadashi. Wake up. You'll be late for college."

"Mmm...," He felt cold water splashed on his face.

"Wake up,"

More water splashed.

"Come on, it's already half past seven."

_Eh?_

Tadashi yawned, struggling to open his eyes. A slim figure was standing at the edge of his bed, with a small bucket of water in her grip. "Aunt Cass?"

His aunt just smiled. "Hurry up. Your friends are waiting downstairs."

Tadashi rubbed his eyes. Then he stared at the other side of his room. An empty bed again. With a sigh of disappointment, Tadashi started his daily morning like usual.

.

**~0~0~0~**

.

_Beep, beep, beep ..._

The steady rhythm of the heart monitor's beeping pierced the silence of the room. Each time it echoed down the white halls was a reassurance that life was still here. It gave hope that a heart was still beating.

_Beep, beep, beep ..._

The sense of hearing was the first sense that worked as the continuing beeping sound near him was captured by his ears. At first, he just ignored it, but when the prolonged monotonus beep started to annoy his hearings, he forced himself to have his sense of sight work.

So, he opened his eyes ... very slowly.

Everything was all white ; the ceiling, the walls, the curtain, the bed he was laying on, the thin blanket that was draped on his body, his oversized hospital gown — _wait, what?!_

The boy made an attempt to sit up but his body felt too weak so he gave up and returned to lay down again. After taking a moment to take in his surrounding, he found an oxygen mask placed on his face and an intravenous tube was attached to his arm.

The door was opened. The boy saw a young lady dressed in white uniform with a tray of medicine walking in. When their eyes met, the lady gasped. The stainless steel tray slid down from her grasp and it fell on the floor with a noisy clanking sound.

The boy blinked in confusion as the lady dashed out of the room as she called out, "Doctor!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scene where Tadashi and Hiro in the pool was inspired from chapter 16 of Fox-Face and Flames, where Hiro pulled out Tadashi's body from the pool and Tadashi woke up from his coma the next morning (that was a beautiful scene). I have no idea about people journeying to other people's state of mind but maybe because they are brothers and have a strong bond so they could travel to each other's mind.


	5. Kitsune no Akachan

**Fox's Humanity**

**5\. Kitsune no Akachan**

* * *

"Hiro Hamada, right?"

It was a slight and almost went unnoticed, but the boy gave a small nod.

"How are you feeling?"

"..."

"..."

"...n-not ... good?" He found his throat was dry and hurt. The tube on his nose made it hard to speak.

"Do you remember anything?"

The boy blinked a couple of times. What he knew was he woke up feeling tired and dizzy. "W-what ... happened?"

"You came with loss of blood and injury on your neck. You were in coma for four days."

Ah ...

It was like a silhoutte, but a flash of images came to his mind. It was fast but the boy managed to watch a man with a long sword swaying his weapon towards him and then —

He remembered. He remembered what Kitsune did —no. That was not Kitsune. The boy was sure the last face he saw was not Kitsune. That sad and concern expressions on that man didn't belong to him. That belonged to —

"—T-Tadashi ..."

"Hm?"

"M-my ... brother ..."

**.**

**~0~0~0~**

**.**

Today would be like the previous days. The class ended, Tadashi and his gang were preparing to visit hospital by Wasabi's car.

But what didn't the same was, Tadashi's phone rang as they stepped out of their campus building. The man stopped to answer it, giving hand gesture to his friends that he would catch up with them later.

"...So, I was thinking," Fred said to his friends as he walked down the steps of the building, leaving Tadashi behind them. "Maybe we could drop by a bookstore and purchase some new comic books. I bet the little dude would love me to read him new story."

"He hasn't woken up yet," Wasabi remarked. "He cannot even hear you."

"No," Fred halted momentary and faced the dark-skinned teens. "I read somewhere that the brain of a coma patient still reacts to sounds, so it's possible for Hiro to be able to hear us talk."

Gogo raised his eyebrow mockingly. "You read?"

Fred looked over Tadashi. "So, what do you think?" he asked expectantly. "You think your little bro would like ..." he was trailed off as he noticed that Tadashi was standing frozen in his place with a blank stare. "Eh ... dude?"

Slowly, the others looked over their shoulder and watched Tadashi's eyes widen and his jaw drop open. His smartphone fell from his grip but he didn't bend down to pick it up. Tears welling up in his eyes. His expression morphed into one that resembled happiness.

Fred dashed up the steps and shook Tadashi's shoulder. "Dude, what's wrong?" he asked in panic. No response. "Oh, no! You've become a statue!"

Tadashi looked at worried faces of his friends. Then he spoke in a small whisper. "T-that's from the hospital."

And the good news that Tadashi delivered to them was something they had longed to hear.

…

Wasabi let Gogo drive his car like a crazy racer to San Fransokyo General Hospital. Tadashi even forgot to tell his aunt ; he just needed to see Hiro first. But not only him, they all needed to see the boy first to make sure that this news was not a false. Restlessness and anxiety were pictured clearly on their faces as they sat impatiently on their seats.

_Hiro ... their baby brother is finally awake ..._

As they arrived and parked the car, they bursted out and raced into the hospital building as fast as their legs could carry them. They bumped into some nurses and other visitors but they didn't stop to apologize. They didn't stop when a staff scolded them to slow their pace.

_Almost there ... almost there ... we're almost there ..._

They stopped only when they reached their destination — a certain door to room 102. Tadashi gulped nervously as he turned the knob and they all scrambled into the room.

A face of a young boy laying on his bed welcomed them. A middle-aged doctor and a young nurse were seen checking on his vital signs and asked him some questions attentively.

The boy noticed his visitors and offered a weak smile from his bed.

"Hey, Nerds." Hiro greeted with a raspy voice from behind his oxygen mask. "You guys looks messy today."

They all gasped in happiness.

Tadashi stared at his brother — at those beautiful brown eyes that finally opened. The same beautiful eyes he saw in his dream last night.

_Hiro is awake. Hiro is fine. Hiro is alive._

Tadashi couldn't control himself from sprinting, approaching Hiro, nor could he control his hands from grabbing Hiro's entire body and consuming his small brother into a tight yet a loving embrace. Wasabi swore he saw Tadashi pouncing Hiro before squeezing the poor boy with his arms.

The doctor and the nurse were forced to step aside from the brothers, watching worriedly at the big brother's action that might harm their patient. _Who let them in? The patient wasn't supposed to have any visitors right now. Not yet._

"Hiro!" a kiss was desperately planted onto the younger Hamada's forehead. "I am … I am really sorry. I didn't mean to —" Several kisses followed before Tadashi hugged his brother again. He was so happy and he couldn't put his emotions into words.

Hiro was not able to return the hug since his arm was still hooked to his IV. Well, it was not like he could do anything due to fatigue. "Eww... Come on, Nerd. You're embarrassing me — Ow!"

Several hits landed atop Hiro's head. "What were you thinking, Knucklehead!" Tadashi suddenly scolded. "Why would you interrupt my battle ; you ... you could've gotten killed!"

The nurse tried to stop the older brother. "Sir, please calm down."

Wasabi positioned himself between the brothers, shielding Hiro from the angry big brother. "Hey, hey, come on. You're hurting the little man." But there was an amused expression on his face.

Fred grinned, pulling Tadashi away. "Dude, the little dude is still recovering. Let him rest and you can punish him later."

That was Tadashi noticed that Hiro was gasping for air. The nurse quickly took over and repositioned the oxygen mask on his face as well as rechecked on his IV in case it was damaged. Honey Lemon rubbed shooting circle on his back softly with happy tears on her smiley face ; Gogo patter his matted hair with a smirk.

"Seriously, I returned from the death and you're trying to kill me?"

The older Hamada set an apologetic smile. As the two last words were uttered, there was a pang of guilt and sadness. That's it ... until he noticed how the girls were circling around his brother. "Unbelievable. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to keep him safe away from me?"

Hiro made a face. "Nobody can resist my charming personality." Even with his oxygen mask on his pale face, his expression was still irritating.

Gogo knocked on the boy's head lightly. "Don't get too cocky, we just want you to be still in one piece for your upcoming punishment."

Hiro grumbled, disappointed.

Tadashi raised an eyebrow at him with a mischievous smile. Hiro soon mirrored his brother's gesture, but without the same smile. "Guess I can't stay mad at you, Little Brother," he sighed, raising a hand to caress the younger's hairs before pulling him again for another hug. "Though I'd be lying if I said my hands are not itching to smack you again right now."

Hiro just nuzzled his face onto his brother's chest. "Sorry," that was his only reply.

The boy still felt sleepy and tired after waking up from days of sleeping. However, he didn't mind with the nuisance from _these nerds._

He missed them too.

A body joined in the hug. Then another, then another until they made a group hug with Hiro being the center of their attentions.

"Welcome back, Otouto."

"Ugh," Hiro faked a scowl in disgust. "I am surrounded by nerds. I am gonna smelt like one too."

"Shut up," Gogo muttered. "We're your nerds."

Now, there wouldn't be empty bed again in the Hamada's house.

The doctor only sighed. "For the sake of the patient's condition, I ask you all to exit. Now."

**.**

**~0~0~0~**

**.**

**EPILOGUE**

Tadashi called Aunt Cass not long after that. The older Hamada could almost feel that his aunt was jumping and shouting with joy and the latter said that she would close the café earlier to see her nephew.

Aunt Cass' reaction when she saw Hiro was not different to Tadashi's ; she rushed into the room and as her eyes caught a sight of her little Hiro wrapped in the gang's arms, she attacked the boy with a bear hug and showered his baby boy with kisses all over his face and hugged him again with tears of happiness. Hiro groaned and tried to pull away, saying that he had have got enough of kisses and hugs.

"Hush, Sweetie. You can't get enough of my hugs." Aunt Cass told him, stroking Hiro's hair gently. "And you're grounded, Young man! No playing hero stuffs for the next three — no, five months until you fully recover."

"Is that my only punishment?" the boy challenged.

"Yep," Tadashi stated proudly, backing up his aunt. "and in case if you're tempted to try anything ; we've already hid your armor."

"Not fair, — hey!"

Aunt Cass flicked his nose. "That's right, sweetheart. That's my idea," she grinned. "Oh, I can't wait to bring you home. There will be party, cakes, balloons, lollipops, presents, and ..."

Hiro face palmed as his aunt kept rambling and eagerly listing things for the upcoming party.

...

Hiro was discharged from the hospital 2 days later. For the past those two days, the boy was still weak and exhausted. It was a common sight when Tadashi and the gang were talking to him and Hiro would be found asleep in the middle of the conversation.

After packing up Hiro's bag, they bundled into Wasabi's car. The dark-skinned teen drove the car and Gogo sat in passenger seat. In the back seat, Hiro nestled on top of Tadashi's lap, flanked by Fred and Honey Lemon ; the older brother cradled Hiro to his chest, letting the younger one sleep in his arms while Honey Lemon held the younger brother's hand in hers. More than once, Wasabi and Gogo glanced through rearview mirror and smiled at the sight of the Hamadas in the back seat.

Together, they headed to Lucky Cat Cafe.

And Aunt Cass was not kidding when she said there would be a party once Hiro was released from the hospital.

As they arrived at their destination, Hiro was awoken by people standing in front of the cafe cheering 'Surprise!'. As the boy got out of the car, he was welcomed by colorful confetti showering him. A big fat party clown was waiting in the doorway with an Iron Man's face-shaped cake in his hands. It took a moment for Hiro to recognize that the clown was no other than Baymax, with thick makeup, yellow afro hair and big round nose.

Hiro groaned again, saying he was too old for this. He knew his aunt also threw a small party when Tadashi was just released from hospital, but dressing up Baymax as a party clown? Seriously, whose idea was that? Hiro was 15 years old now, not a toddler.

But Aunt Cass just reacted by pinching his cheeks. "Aww, but you're always be a baby, Honey," she cooed.

"Aunt Cass!" Hiro blushed, embarrassed.

"You gotta admit, you look like a baby," A voice of a girl joined them. "I mean, you're kind of a kid who needs to be babysat 24/7 since you always get yourself into dangers."

Hiro was startled. No, it was not because that voice surprised him. Neither was it because he knew that voice. No. But it was mostly because he didn't expect _a girl like her_ would care and come to a welcome party for him.

Sasha Peters popped out from Aunt Cass' back. A box wrapped in a colorful wrapping paper was tucked safely under her arms.

Hiro narrowed his eyes skeptically as the girl handed him her present. He blinked, giving Sasha a once over before glancing down at the gift in his hand and shifted to look at the girl again curiously.

"It's a stuffed animal," the girl pointed at the present in Hiro's hand. "I picked it out myself."

"Ah," Hiro just nodded, not even tried to conceal his cringe expression at the gift until Tadashi nudged him in the shoulder and jerked his head towards Sasha. The boy pouted and said sarcastically, "Wow ... a doll! Never thought you'd be a thoughtful person when picking out a present for a teenage boy like me."

An amused smirk appeared on Sasha's lips. "A girly boy," she corrected.

Hiro scowled, but then he shrugged. "Well, anyway. Thank you for coming here."

Sasha crossed her arms on her chest. "I wouldn't come if it wasn't for Tadashi," here, Hiro rolled his eyes in annoyance. "But —"

Reddish color slowly appeared on the girl's cheek. Sasha cleared her throat, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Suddenly, she felt nervous, something that had never happened to her before.

"— I-I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to see you're finally awake from your coma."

Hiro squinted his eyes, but eventually, he smiled. A sincere smile the first time he gave to the girl since their very first encounter. A smile, which Sasha glanced at but then avoided before her cheek got redder.

Now it's Hiro's turn to smirk. "You know, I've always knew you're a sweet girl inside."

And Hiro was awarded by a sudden punch in the arm by the said sweet girl.

...

The party was full of pleasures and on this special day, all attentions were on Hiro like he was a birthday's boy. After taking pictures and giving him lots of hugs and kisses (which Hiro tried to fight off because he was not a kid), they started to noticed that Hiro had yawned and his head had lolled back several times. As the boy almost fainted due to exhaustion, Tadashi decided that Hiro needed his nap right now.

The boy yelped when Tadashi suddenly scooped him up. "W-what are you doing?" he wiggled. "Tadashi, put me down!"

"Sorry, Little brother," the older Hamada smirked in amusement. "Can't have you walk alone upstairs."

"Aunt Cass!" the boy called, asking for his aunt's help.

But his aunt scolded him instead. "Remember, you're still grounded! You let your brother carry you or else I will carry you myself."

There was snickers from the gang. Hiro glimpsed Sasha giggling and muttering 'big baby' to him.

Hiro turned red with embarrassment and he buried his face in his hands as Tadashi carried him with one arm (again, they're reminded how small Hiro was) while his other hand was holding the box present from Sasha.

As the two Hamadas reached their room, Tadashi laid Hiro onto his bed. "Get some sleep," he ruffled his brother's hair lovingly. "I'll get downstairs to get you something."

Tadashi was about to go back to his friends. He was already on the top of the stairs when suddenly a small hesitant voice called him.

"W-wait!"

Tadashi froze. He turned his head and made an eye contact with his brother ; Hiro's face looked restless and anxious, like something was bothering him. With a sigh of understanding, the big brother returned to the small boy and sat on the bed, drapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Alright. I am listening."

Hiro casted his gaze downwards. "W-what happened to ... _him_?" he asked in a tiny voice.

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Hiro let out a deep breath and looked at his brother in the eye. "The other you," he replied carefully, it was like he was afraid of getting the answer to properly speak. "What … what happened to … Kitsune?"

Tadashi found himself squeezing Hiro's shoulder upon hearing that, his expression darkened at the mention of that name. Expressions that showed ... anger? Disgust? Sorrow? Hiro almost regretted asking that question as he saw those expressions but he needed to know the answer.

"Are you still afraid of him?" there was a cold voice from Tadashi. For a moment, Hiro saw the flashes of Kitsune came in the kind face of his brother.

"No. I mean …," Hiro returned his attention to the floor as he fiddled with his fingers, suddenly feeling nervous. "I just feel … that I was a jerk and … I need to apologize to him …er, to you … too, perhaps ... and — "

He was suddenly stopped by a poke to his forehead. Hiro looked up and he was met with a warm gaze of his brother. A gaze that belonged to Tadashi.

"What are you saying, Knucklehead?" The older brother said with a half sad smile. "After what Kitsune — no, after what I had done to you in the past, I believed it would've been better if I just died."

_Died?_

"No, Dashi, I didn't mean — I am sorry. But, I should've —"

"Hiro, please!" It was a stern voice.

The grip on Hiro's shoulder tightened again and his older brother's face leaned over to his with an unreadable expression, stopping Hiro from his apologise. The younger brother felt a deep shiver coursed its way down his spine and into his feet. Hiro retreated but his brother's strong grip kept him in place.

"Nii —"

"Just ... stop talking nonsense that it was your fault," Tadashi suddenly cut him off, saying in a serious tone.

Hiro gulped, searching his brother's face as he still listened;

"...your attempts to make me feel better for what I've done to you only made me feel pathetic and disgusted more of myself…"

Hiro blinked. It's Tadashi talking, right?

"... and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me sick. Just stop pitying me and my past mistakes with that look of mercy."

Hiro suddenly placed a hand on his brother's cheek. "T-tadashi?" _Right?_ "Nii-san?"

The older brother noticed Hiro's worried face. Realizing that he was about to channel Kitsune that might frighten Hiro, he shook his head, sighed and forced a smile. His eyes traveled down to his brother's face, as if he was studying his features.

Finally, his gaze met something under Hiro's chin — a very thin neck wrapped in white bandage.

"I've almost killed you several times." He continued gently, eyes showing a regret. "I remember I've hurted your feeling so much. I killed innocent people, so your hatred towards the other me was quite justified. Hiro, I also cannot forgive myself for that. For whatever I did to you. To those people."

Hiro stared deeply into his brother's eyes. The emotions pictured in him was telling Hiro that his brother was Tadashi. But the firmness in him belonged to Kitsune.

These were his brother's ; both Tadashi and Kitsune.

Hiro attacked Tadashi with a hug around the waist. "No," he said. "It wasn't your fault." He buried his head into his brother's chest. "You know it wasn't really your fault. You ...and the others ...had no choice to survive. A-and ... You — Kitsune, I ... I should've understood that _he_ had been my brother all along. I … I should've accepted the other you. I … I am sorry, Dashi. I was just afraid that you would —"

Tadashi tensed at the sudden hug but eventually returning the embrace. "Alright, alright. We both are sorry, okay?" He patted his brother's head. He wouldn't tell Hiro that when he became Kitsune, he never felt like he was being himself — being the loving Tadashi Hamada who wanted to help a lot people without hurting anyone. "I'd be lying if I said this was not confusing. Me and Kitsune? We're the same but at the same time, we're not."

One certain thing that was the same about them was their love for their brother ; the will to protect their Hiro with their own respective ways.

Hiro lifted his head, staring at his brother who was staring back at him with his soft gaze who smirked. It was Tadashi's face. "Sometimes, I feel like I have two brothers."

Tadashi smirked teasingly. "Two attractive brothers. You should feel lucky."

"Pfftt ... you're being narcissict. I am beginning to think Kitsune is much cooler."

The big brother set a feigned pained expression. "What? Now you prefer him to me?"

Hiro sticked out his tongue playfully, before burying his face again into his brother's chest. There was a tired sigh. "Still, I think I have to admit that you both combined is fine— "

Tadashi felt Hiro's grip around him began to loose and his voice was getting smaller.

"— At least ... it makes you...," there was a yawn interruppting his mumbling, Tadashi chuckled in amusement. " ... become a less ... nerd ... and ..."

The voice was getting smaller and smaller until it became inaudible sounds that soon was replaced by a light regular snore.

Tadashi glanced down at Hiro and smiled warmly at his brother's sleeping face. It was expected that his brother would be overcome by lassitude after being just released from hospital ; that was the nurse had told him. He positioned his brother in his lap for a more comfortable position.

"My belly makes a cozy mattress, huh?" He patted his brother's back lightly and hummed.

The tune was about to make him drift off when he caught a sight of Hiro's present near the bed. A gift from Sasha. He knew that inside that box, there was a stuffed animal, yet he wondered what animal Sasha picked out for his brother. Curiousity took over. He took a final glance at his brother before reaching his hands forwards and grabbed the box. Judging by its size, the doll couldn't be more than 30 centimeters tall.

He rested his chin on top Hiro's head while his hands worked unwrapping the wrapping paper covering the box. He lifted the lid and found an object colored in white and brown.

And what's inside the box really captured his attention.

Tadashi took out the doll from the box and inspected it.

It was a fox. A small fox doll — _no_. This was too small to be a fox. And its colors was different from colors most adult foxes had.

A fox cub?

The man smiled bitterly staring at the plush doll until he realized that this doll was for Hiro, not him.

Out of many stuffed animals and plush toys out there, Sasha picked out a fox cub? What was that girl thinking?

What was she thinking about Hiro?

He understood if that doll was for his. He was kitsune, after all. But Hiro?

Baby fox?

_Kitsune no akachan?_

Tadashi threw the doll to the bedside table like it was a piece of garbage. He decided not to bother himself to think about it as he lowered his back to the bed, pulling Hiro with him in his embrace ; the little boy's head snuggled comfortably onto his big brother's broad chest. Tadashi brought his arms and wrapped it around his little brother ; the boy's heartbeats and snores were like a beautiful rhythm that lulled him to sleep.

...

After wondering why Tadashi hadn't returned, Sasha found the brothers nestled together on the same mattress.

The girl made her way to the bed, intending to wake the older Hamada. Her hands were ready to shake Tadashi's shoulders, but as the brothers' sleeping forms met her eyes, she instantly recoiled.

The boys looked so peaceful in each other arms, like all heavy burdens they had carried for the past 2 months ago were finally lifted up from their shoulders.

The brothers deserved their time together and Sasha felt like she didn't belong here, like she didn't have a right to separate the inseparable brothers even just for a few minutes.

If there was one word in her mind right now after watching the Hamada brothers, it would be 'cliché' — her favorite word. But, somehow, she didn't mind with this cliché.

She was about to turn around and walked back downstairs when a doll on a bedside table captured her attention.

The girl smiled at the plush she gave Hiro.

She was not fully thoughtless when she picked out that doll as the present. Hiro was not like kitsune, yes. But he was Kitsune's little brother.

And which gift is more suitable for Kitsune's cute baby brother than a fluffy baby fox plush?

.

.

.

**~THE END~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The part where Aunt Cass threw a party was inspired from chapter 17 ; where Tadashi just got released from the hospital and then I thought, maybe she would do the same if it was Hiro.
> 
> Again, I want to thank you again to tykimikitty for giving me permission to write based on her story :')


End file.
